the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in collaboration with the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA), has inaugurated a sensitisation drive to curtail the spread of tanker fire explosion.
The two agencies inaugurated the campaign on Wednesday at the Tanker’s park in the state’s Nassarawa-Eggon Local Government Area (LGA).
Speaking at the event, Babatunde Razak-Adebiyi, the North-Central NEMA Coordinator in charge of Plateau, Nasarawa, and Benue States, said the event aimed to curtail tanker fires.
He said that NEMA was collaborating with the state emergency agency, the Fire Service, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), and the tanker drivers to help curtail the rate of road fire disasters.
Razak-Adebiyi said fires were highly risky emergencies that posed a serious threat to lives, property, the environment, and infrastructure.
He attributed fire incidents involving tankers to road traffic crashes, equipment failure, and human error, saying addressing the situation required collective and coordinated efforts of all stakeholders.
Therefore, he called on the tanker drivers to imbibe the lessons learnt from the firefighting agency to avoid the loss of lives and the escalation of fire whenever it happens.
For his part, Mr Ben Akwash, the Director-General of NASEMA, said that sensitisation was part of the proactive measures the state and Federal Governments took to tackle the increasing rate of tanker fires.
Akwash decried incidences of fire disasters involving tankers that were not adequately managed, leading to the loss of lives and property in many states.
The NASEMA boss urged tanker drivers to be cautious on the roads and advised the public to continuously run for their lives whenever a tanker loaded with petroleum products falls.
Akwash said that the state emergency agency would replicate the sensitisation in all 13 local government areas of the state to reach more tanker drivers.
In a presentation, the Controller of Federal Fire Service in Nasarawa State, Nwachuku Eno-Kelechi, urged tanker drivers to run for their lives in a fire disaster before looking for ways to quench the fire.
The Controller recommended that drivers use quality fire extinguishers to handle fire outbreaks effectively.
She also advised tanker drivers to always try to disengage the battery of a petrol-laden tanker that fell and call the fire service for prompt response to de-escalate the fire.
Eno-Kelechi emphasised that drivers should refill their fire extinguishers regularly, maintain electrical wires, and always have the seat belt cutter close to them.
She also demonstrated practical steps to extinguish the fire to the drivers so they could adopt them when necessary.