Gombe Federal Teaching Hospital gutted by fire

The Federal Teaching Hospital in Gombe was Friday morning engulfed by fire from an unknown source and lasted for about two hours.

The Chief Medial Director of the hospital, Dr. Abubakar Saidu said the fire started some minutes past 06:00 hours and was finally certified fully quenched by men of the State Fire Service at about 8:00 am,
consuming the staff lounge and some offices.

“We woke up this morning and discover there was fire in the old administrative block, specifically from one of the lounges.

“It was detected by the security men who raised alarm and started using fire extinguishers to try to put out the fire.

“They were able to contain the fire that was burning the curtains and the furniture but unfortunately by that time, the fire had gone into the ceiling and then spread to two offices of our senior nurses.

“While they were struggling to put out the fire, the Fire Service also joined; our tankers too were there, supplying water to the fire service.

“Fortunately, apart from the staff lounge and the two offices, the fire did not spread any further and thank God there was no injury, talk less of death was recorded,” he explained.

During a visit at about 10:00 am, the CMD said everybody was back to their duty posts except that the General Out Patient Department was shot temporarily because of its closeness to the affected area.

He suspected that the fire was caused by electricity fault because there is no open fire source around the area but would not want to guess until he received the report from the fire service.

He commended the fire service for their timely response to the distressed call and the staff of the hospital for their courage.

He said it would have helped tremendously if the hospital had its fire engine and fire drill which it had applied for severally, without gaining approval from the concerned authorities.

He nevertheless added that the presence of professional fire fighters could not have been ruled out though because one could never tell how big the fire could become.