A Comparative Analysis of Fire Incidences in Domestic and Public Buildings during the Military and Civilian Era in Kwara State, Nigeria (1990 – 1999; 2000 – 2009).

Abstract

Fire disaster in both domestic and public buildings in Nigeria has been seen as an environmental disaster and a threat to lives and properties and above all, seriously hinders infrastructural development. This paper examined trends in fire outbreaks in Kwara State of Nigeria, in relation to the use of building and the causes of reported fire incidents from 1990 to 1999 and 2000 – 2009, representing military era and civilian era respectively. The relationships between these variables were determined using simple regression analysis and t-test. Significant relationship (F> at 0.05) was observed in the two periods under review, between the total number of fire incidents and the proportion of such fires that occurred in domestic and public buildings. By comparison, the proportion of such fires that occurred in public buildings was not significant in the two eras and that of domestic buildings was significant in the two eras in Kwara State. Electrical faults were found out to be a significant cause of fire outbreak in the two eras. It was concluded that the greater proportion of fire outbreaks in the two eras: (i) is due to electrical faults, and (ii) occurs in domestic, rather than public buildings. This paper then recommended that special team of researchers should be set up by the Kwara State government to investigate the reasons why electrical faults fire and domestic buildings fire are more frequent and at the same time find a lasting solution to reduce it to the barest minimum.