Fire Averted At National Assembly

ABUJA, January 14, (THEWILL) – The timely intervention of the fire service saved the National Assembly main complex from a major fire disaster Saturday which reportedly started at 1.pm.
The main complex popularly referred to as the 'White House' houses the two chambers; The Senate and House of Representative

An eye witness told THEWILL correspondent that the fire started from the office of the Secretary to the Clerk National Assembly (CNA) located on the third floor of the main building.

The thick smoke, which bellowed from the office, attracted the attention of one of the sergeant-at-arms who quickly raised an alarm and contacted men of the fire fighting service.

The fire fighters promptly rushed to the scene and were able to quench the fire before serious damage could be done.

The cause of the fire outbreak could not be ascertained at press time, but it was however suspected to have occurred courtesy of a power surge.

One of the fire officers involved in the operation in a chat with THEWILL correspondent said, “The fire started at about 1pm. We were in our office when one of the officers in the sergeant-at-arms office rushed to our office and shouting that there was fire.

“When we got there the whole place was covered with smoke we could not find our way through easily. Apart from that, there was nobody to bring the keys and open the offices for us to move in.

“We were just there struggling to see how we can enter until one of us just forced one door open.

"If not that it is a place we are very familiar with, we could have found it difficult to locate the actual place. But we were able to locate the office. They said it is the office of the secretary to the CNA. By the time we got there the whole office was covered in thick smoke, but we were able to tackle it before the fire could spread into other offices,” he said.

However, Chief Security of the National Assembly Col. Emeka Okere (rtd) and some of his staff were on hand to ensure that nobody was allowed entry into the building. Men of the fire fighting services were also there sweeping out water used to quell the fire.

Security was beefed up as a result thus making access to the National Assembly complex very difficult.

The entire Eagle Square leading into the National Assembly was cordoned off by the combined security agencies, including the army, police, Directorate of State Security (DSS), Civil defence, men of the directorate of traffic service (VIO) and Road Safety personnel among others.