The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has recorded another fire incident in one of its airports.
Yesterday fire started inside the premises of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and spread through the bush surrounding one of the runways of the airport and would have spread further but for immediate action taken by FAAN, which deployed its firefighters to put off the fire.
The inferno was said to spread very fast because of the harmattan and was encroaching the runway when the firefighters intervened.
In reaction to the incident, FAAN alerted airlines about the fire, which it said occurred around the Runway Safety Area (RESA) of the airport.
A statement from the agency, signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, informed airline operators and other airport users “that a bush fire incident has been reported around the RESA of 36L, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.”
The statement said that FAAN deployed officers of the Air Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) to put out the fire.
“However, the incident did not affect flight operations as normal flight operations continue unhindered,” the agency said.
About 10 days ago fire that started from outside spread into the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa and almost burnt the runway, forcing airlines to abort flights to the airport and FAAN to temporarily close the facility.
The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had warned of the harmattan weather that is prone to spreading fire.
Besides the fire incident at the airport, there have been reports of many other fire incidents in Lagos in the last five days.
Source: THISDAY
