The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) rescued seven children from a fire incident at an orphanage and motherless babies home on Sunday in Lagos.

This is contained in a statement signed by Nosa Okunbor, LASEMA spokesman, in the early hours of Monday.

LASEMA said the home was engulfed by a domestic fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house due to a power surge on Sunday afternoon.

It said the agency rescued the seven male children from the one-storey building at No. 7 Wole Madariola St., off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos.

“A one-storey building housing an orphanage/motherless babies home was engulfed by fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house as a result of power surge which was said to have quickly spread out,” stated LASEMA. “A total of seven boys with ages ranging between one and seven years were quickly evacuated from the home and safely relocated to the compound opposite the home.”

It added, “Management team of the home informed LASEMA of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the home temporarily to ensure their welfare was sustained. The fire which had initially spread to the storage room of the home has been extinguished with dampening down concluded.”

The agency noted that a post-disaster assessment revealed that the first floor was salvaged, the fire was contained in the store room, and the rest of the ground floor was also salvaged.

The agency said the children were formally handed over to officials of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, who formally handed them over to the Red Cross.

LASEMA said neither injuries nor casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident, adding that the operation was successfully concluded in record time. 

(NAN)