Gombe State Fire Service said on Monday that it received no fewer than 216 fire incident calls across the state in 2018 as against the 304 it got in 2017.
A Deputy Director in the Service, Mr Wambai Haruna, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Gombe and said the calls were less than the 304 received in 2017.
Haruna attributed the drop in the incidents calls to sustained campaigns by the service in 2018, on how to prevent fire cases.
According to him, fire outbreak always results in colossal damage which can include human lives, hence the need for the adoption of campaign to prevent the incidents in the state.
“In 2018, we received over 216 fire calls against the 304 calls recorded in 2017. There is a tremendous decline in the number of calls across the state.
“This is as result of the fact that people are now more aware of the damages and danger of fire outbreaks in the society, through the sustained campaigns.
“The breakdown of the statistics of fire calls received shows that residential calls were more when compared to the calls from markets and other places like hospitals, religious centres and schools.
“Majority of the calls in 2017 and 2018 were recorded in the first three months of the year. This is why people must be very conscious in this first quarter of 2019.
“In 2017, between January and March, we recorded 140 calls out of 304 and in 2018, 85 calls out of the 216 fire calls were received within the same period,” he said.
Haruna added that majority of the fire incidents were caused by electrical appliances, and advised the people to always check their electrical appliances before going out or to bed.
He warned against burning of refuse, bushes and other inflammable items close to residential areas and market places, adding that any attempt to burn anything must be supervised to ensure that the fire did not spread.