By Kelechi Ogunleye
The Federal Fire Service (FFS) saved 2,106 lives and N934.70 billion worth of property in different fire incidents across Nigeria in 2025, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The statistics were made available to NAN on Thursday in Abuja by FFS Deputy Controller-General, Ijeoma Achi-Okidi, who is in charge of Policy, Planning, Research and Statistics.
The report showed that in the year under review, FFS recorded 1,866 fire incidents, from which 114 lives were lost while 198 citizens and five firefighters got injured.
“The total estimated property loss was approximately N74.75 billion, which indicates that FFS successfully protected about 92.59 per cent of the total value at risk.
“The overall fatality rate was 61.09 deaths per 1,000 fire incidents, highlighting the significant human impact, in spite effective property protection,” it stated.
A breakdown of fire outbreaks according to premises type indicated a record of 693 cases of fire in private residences, followed by public buildings with 444 cases.
“Markets and trading centres recorded 190 fires; vehicles/automobiles – 177 fires, while other types of premises were 105.
“Thirty-nine persons died in markets and trading centres fire incidents, 22 persons due to automobile fires, 18 persons in public/government offices fire, 10 deaths due to fire occurrences in banks while 10 persons died from other fires.
“Deaths from markets inferno was responsible for over a third of all fatalities, likely due to high occupancy and rapid fire spread in crowded trading environments,” the report stated.
It further revealed that market fires led to the loss of property valued at N22.27 billion, followed by private residences – N14.67 billion; public/government buildings – N11 billion; educational institutions – N8.16 billion and fuel/gas stations – N4.92 billion.
The report also indicated that in 2025, the leading causes of fire incidents were electrical related issues such as power surge/overload, wiring faults, causing nearly 70 per cent of all fires recorded in the year.
“Though gas explosion fires didn’t occur as much as other sources of ignition, it had the highest fatality rate per incident,” it said.
In an interview with NAN, the FFS Controller General (CG), Samuel Olumode, acknowledged that in the year under review, the service achieved significant life saving and asset protection outcomes.
Olumode said that the service would continue to intensify efforts in ensuring the safety of lives and property.
He assured that plans were ongoing to strengthen preventive regulations, public awareness, and forensic fire investigation capacity.
According to him, infrastructure safety will be critical in reducing fire, fatalities and economic losses.
The CG urged Nigerians to cooperate with firefighters at fire scenes, for effective fire controls.
“Prevention is better than reaction, and that is why the service has began sensitisation programmes and training of personnel, in order to service Nigerians better,” he said. (NAN)
Edited by Florence Onuegbu/Bayo Sekoni
