Seven children rescued as Fire engulfs Lagos orphanage home

Seven children have reportedly been saved from a fire incident at an orphanage in the city, according to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).
The incident happened on Sunday afternoon.
Nosa Okunbor, chief of LASEMA’s public affairs division, claimed in a statement that the organization saved seven male youngsters from the orphanage’s one-story building.
The orphanage is located in Aguda at 7 Wole Madariola Street, just off Enitan Kusimo Street.
Okunbor claimed that a house fire that allegedly erupted from an air conditioning unit inside the home as a result of a power surge had completely consumed the structure.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“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.
“Post disaster assessment revealed that the whole of the first floor was salvaged, while 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 no injuries and casualties were recorded in “the near fatal incident”, adding that the operation was successfully concluded in record time.