The Federal Fire Service saved 2,106 lives and N934.70 billion worth of property in different fire incidents across Nigeria in 2025.

The statistics were made available in Abuja on Thursday by FFS deputy comptroller-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, during which 114 lives were lost, and 198 citizens and five firefighters were 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 of effective property protection,” it stated.

A breakdown of fire outbreaks by premises type showed 693 cases in private residences, followed by 444 in public buildings.

“Markets and trading centres recorded 190 fires; vehicles/automobiles – 177 fires, while other types of premises were 105.

“Thirty-nine persons died in market and trading centre fire incidents, 22 persons due to automobile fires, 18 persons in public/government office fires, 10 deaths due to fire occurrences in banks, while 10 persons died from other fires.

“Deaths from the market inferno were 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 surges/overloads and wiring faults, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of all fires recorded that year.

“Though gas explosion fires didn’t occur as much as other sources of ignition, they had the highest fatality rate per incident,” it said.

The FFS comptroller-general, Samuel Olumode, acknowledged that, in the year under review, the service achieved significant life-saving and asset-protection outcomes.

Mr 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 to reducing fires, fatalities, and economic losses.
The CG urged Nigerians to cooperate with firefighters at fire scenes for effective fire control.

“Prevention is better than reaction, and that is why the service has begun sensitisation programmes and training of personnel in order to service Nigerians better,” he said.

(NAN)