The FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Wednesday in Abuja called for the establishment of a Safety Commission to regulate the activities of gas stations.

While briefing journalists on the organisation’s activities in 2022 and its plans for 2023, the agency’s director-general, Abbas Idriss, said the initiative is to curb fire explosions in the territory.

Mr Idriss observed that most gas stations and outlets in the nation’s capital didn’t have well-trained staffers that attended to customers professionally whenever they went to refill their cylinders.

”Every gas station is supposed to have protective gear for customers to use within their vicinity to protect themselves.

“Gas selling outlets in the filling stations are supposed to have a wall demarcating them from the filling station, but it is not the situation.

”So, we need to have a safety commission regulated by the FCT Administration to ensure that they train the workers of those stations and make sure that they do the right thing,” he said.

The DG said the agency had decided to introduce emergency marshals to work in communities across the six area councils to curb hazards.

”We intend to introduce emergency marshals this year. These are volunteers who assist students, hospital workers, PWDs, and the general public during emergencies.

”They also assist in facility services, risk management and safety services by reporting conditions in a building that could present a hazard during an emergency.

”They also maintain an orderly evacuation; conduct a sweep of an area to ensure that evacuation is complete.”

He also stated that the marshals were expected to participate in debriefings resulting from evacuation and complete a monthly checklist for fire safety issues in their areas.

”The FCT has become a standard in flood control in the country. This is because of a drastic reduction in the impact of flooding.

“We attribute this development to early warning and massive sensitisation on what to do before the rains,

during the rains and after the rains,” he said.

Mr Idriss also said that in 2022, FEMA responded to 42 distress calls on the 112 emergency toll-free numbers.

”This shows a marked reduction to 2021, where we had 173 distress calls; I want to attribute this reduction to the massive sensitisation of residents.

”In 2022, 270 lives were rescued from various flood incidents received from 16 distress calls through the 112 emergency toll-free number,” he said.

(NAN)