The Federal Fire Service said it has commenced Investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire, Wednesday early morning, at the Ministry of Finance Headquarters, Abuja.
There were earlier reports that about 6:50 am some staff of the Finance Ministry noticed smoke from the room that housed the battery for the ministry’s power backup system.
The staff had raised an alarm and the internally provided fire fighting equipment were deployed and the fire was put under control in about 15-20 minutes after it started, even ahead of the arrival of the Fire Service men.
It was learnt that the fire emanated from an exploded battery which then affected other batteries — about 10 to 16 batteries in all.
BusinessDay also confirmed that the fire only affected the battery compartment at the Ministry’s basement, but did not affect other parts of the building.
Read also: Finance Ministry clears air on fire incident
In a statement, Controller General of the Federal Fire Service, Samson Pere Karebo urged residents of the FCT not to panic, following the incident.
Karebo assured that the fire had been brought under control and that there was no cause for alarm.
“Men of the Federal Fire Service who arrived at the scene about two minutes after they received the call discovered that some staff of the Ministry had used fire extinguishers to bring the situation under control,” Karebo noted in a statement signed by Paul Abraham,
public relations officer, Federal Fire Service. “Fire fighters carried out on the spot assessment to ensure a no case of re-ignition before leaving the scene.”
The CGF commended the Ministry of Finance for ensuring that the office has fire protection equipment in place and called on Nigerians to take such a queue and equip their homes and offices with fire equipment.
