Fire outbreak in OAU hostel renders occupants homeless.
Dansabe Kuni
A room in one of Obafemi Awolowo University's (OAU) finest hostel facility was gutted with fire on Tuesday evening and every properties in it got burnt.
OAU KILONSHELE gathered that a cooking gas cylinder in one of the rooms in Alumni female hostel, caught fire at about 7:00pm on Tuesday and all efforts of students and fire service men to quench the fire was unyielding.
Although no life was lost to the fire accident, properties and personal belongings such as; phones, laptop, food stuffs, beddings, bags, clothes, academic materials, and some household materials, were completely burnt down.
In a visit to the affected part on Thursday, OAU KILONSHELE witnessed the relics of the burnt properties and belongings in the room, thus leaving the occupants with nothing, other than the clothes they wore and some with their mobile phones.
While speaking with this newspaper, a student, Olarotimi Olajumoke, who stays close to the affected room, stated that four of the occupants of the room were actually around when the incident happened but they could not help the situation.
Narrating how the accident started, she said; "when I got to the burning room while the fire was still a bit controllable, I saw the fire coming out from the gas cooker while the pot the lady was using to cook was still on it."
"She (one of the occupants) was stiring Amala on it and unknowingly to her, the burner got loosed and the fire engulfed from there. So, I think that caused the fire" she said.
Olajumoke further added that, the unavailability of water at that particular moment worsened the sad occurrence.
"The situation would have been easier but due to lack of water at that point in time, people could not attack the fire immediately," She said.
Another occupant, who refused to disclose her name to our correspondent, identified two of the victims as Elizabeth and Faith.
She said; "Elizabeth, Faith and other two members of the room present tried to put out the fire but their fear of fire rendered them powerless."
All efforts to contact the victims with the details gathered proved abortive as all of them have been displaced to stay with friends outside the school premises.
As one of the reasons the victims' telephone numbers were not going through, neighbours of the victims stated that it was being rumoured that the victims will pay a fine of Two hundred thousand naira each for the damages done, which made them run for their lives.
Absence of fire extinguisher...
This news agency gathered that the absence of fire extinguishers in the halls of residence has been the cause of out-of-control fire outbreaks in the school for a similar accident occurred in one of the halls about two months ago.
In an interview with students, the fire extinguisher, which is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires in emergency situations, is not taken serious by the university authorities.
Uthman Samad, a 300 level student, told our correspondent about the outdated fire extinguishers, which the school used to have on each floors of the hostels.
"There was a day, when I got to the ones seen last two semesters ago, I discovered that the fire extinguisher has gone rusty and no longer functioning. Now we don't even have any," He said.
"If there are necessary equipment, we would not have recorded much loss in this case. It would be minimal," Folorunsho Habibat asserted.
Also, In a public release, sent by the Great Ife students' action committee on Wednesday, the student group admonished students to demand for fire safety equipment in order to prevent future occurrences.
"While we sympathize, we believe that it is high time students began demanding for necessary fire safety equipment to curb subsequent occurrences. It is rather unheard of and condemnable that despite issues of several fire outbreaks that have occurred in various halls in recent times, the university administration has not deemed it necessary to put fire safety equipment in any of the halls of residence."
Speaking on the compensation of the victims, the committee headed by Gbenga Oloniniran, stated that; "the victims of the fire accidents who have lost their property to the incident should be compensated and not indicted."
Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Thursday, the Dean of the Division of Students' Affairs, Isiaka Aransi, assured that a renovation exercise will commence in the affected room very soon.
"Any moment from now, everything will be sorted out and the students will be back in their rooms.
It was only one room but it was burnt beyond repairs. We will start the renovation from the roof of the affected room and it will come very soon."
However, Mr. Aransi, a Professor in local government studies, debunked the rumour of a fine instructed to be paid by the students.
"We have not told any student that they will pay any money. Under normal circumstances, it is students, who are supposed to that ( the renovation) but considering the circumstances, it is expedient to do something to assist our students," He stated.
A room in one of Obafemi Awolowo University's (OAU) finest hostel facility was gutted with fire on Tuesday evening and every properties in it got burnt.
OAU KILONSHELE gathered that a cooking gas cylinder in one of the rooms in Alumni female hostel, caught fire at about 7:00pm on Tuesday and all efforts of students and fire service men to quench the fire was unyielding.
Although no life was lost to the fire accident, properties and personal belongings such as; phones, laptop, food stuffs, beddings, bags, clothes, academic materials, and some household materials, were completely burnt down.
In a visit to the affected part on Thursday, OAU KILONSHELE witnessed the relics of the burnt properties and belongings in the room, thus leaving the occupants with nothing, other than the clothes they wore and some with their mobile phones.
While speaking with this newspaper, a student, Olarotimi Olajumoke, who stays close to the affected room, stated that four of the occupants of the room were actually around when the incident happened but they could not help the situation.
Narrating how the accident started, she said; "when I got to the burning room while the fire was still a bit controllable, I saw the fire coming out from the gas cooker while the pot the lady was using to cook was still on it."
"She (one of the occupants) was stiring Amala on it and unknowingly to her, the burner got loosed and the fire engulfed from there. So, I think that caused the fire" she said.
Olajumoke further added that, the unavailability of water at that particular moment worsened the sad occurrence.
"The situation would have been easier but due to lack of water at that point in time, people could not attack the fire immediately," She said.
Another occupant, who refused to disclose her name to our correspondent, identified two of the victims as Elizabeth and Faith.
She said; "Elizabeth, Faith and other two members of the room present tried to put out the fire but their fear of fire rendered them powerless."
All efforts to contact the victims with the details gathered proved abortive as all of them have been displaced to stay with friends outside the school premises.
As one of the reasons the victims' telephone numbers were not going through, neighbours of the victims stated that it was being rumoured that the victims will pay a fine of Two hundred thousand naira each for the damages done, which made them run for their lives.
Absence of fire extinguisher...
This news agency gathered that the absence of fire extinguishers in the halls of residence has been the cause of out-of-control fire outbreaks in the school for a similar accident occurred in one of the halls about two months ago.
In an interview with students, the fire extinguisher, which is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires in emergency situations, is not taken serious by the university authorities.
Uthman Samad, a 300 level student, told our correspondent about the outdated fire extinguishers, which the school used to have on each floors of the hostels.
"There was a day, when I got to the ones seen last two semesters ago, I discovered that the fire extinguisher has gone rusty and no longer functioning. Now we don't even have any," He said.
"If there are necessary equipment, we would not have recorded much loss in this case. It would be minimal," Folorunsho Habibat asserted.
Also, In a public release, sent by the Great Ife students' action committee on Wednesday, the student group admonished students to demand for fire safety equipment in order to prevent future occurrences.
"While we sympathize, we believe that it is high time students began demanding for necessary fire safety equipment to curb subsequent occurrences. It is rather unheard of and condemnable that despite issues of several fire outbreaks that have occurred in various halls in recent times, the university administration has not deemed it necessary to put fire safety equipment in any of the halls of residence."
Speaking on the compensation of the victims, the committee headed by Gbenga Oloniniran, stated that; "the victims of the fire accidents who have lost their property to the incident should be compensated and not indicted."
Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Thursday, the Dean of the Division of Students' Affairs, Isiaka Aransi, assured that a renovation exercise will commence in the affected room very soon.
"Any moment from now, everything will be sorted out and the students will be back in their rooms.
It was only one room but it was burnt beyond repairs. We will start the renovation from the roof of the affected room and it will come very soon."
However, Mr. Aransi, a Professor in local government studies, debunked the rumour of a fine instructed to be paid by the students.
"We have not told any student that they will pay any money. Under normal circumstances, it is students, who are supposed to that ( the renovation) but considering the circumstances, it is expedient to do something to assist our students," He stated.
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