Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, last Tuesday, escaped a car fire incident involving his Mercedes G Wagon in which he was supposed to travel. The vehicle was said to have caught fire ‘mysteriously’ while in motion and was burnt to ashes.
The Spokesman to the Ekiti State Governor, Lere Olayinka said the SUV caught fire on motion but the Governor was not in the v be in the vehicle but he was not there when the incident occurred.
Mr Olayinka also said that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has claimed that the Governor was a target of a “spiritual bomb”. The former Minister wrote on his Twitter handle that those who targeted the Governor did not know the kind of God he serves.
“They say my brother @GovAyoFayose’s official car caught fire and burnt to ashes whilst on the Oshodi expressway in Lagos.
“If those that threw the spiritual bomb that caused the fire expected him to be in the car when it exploded then they don’t know the God that Fayose serves!”
A study on some of the causes of car fire incidents shows that even though car fire incidents could be sudden, the intensity of the fire is almost always as a result of neglect. Sometimes, electrical faults in which wires are left dangling and naked lead to incidents such as this. Also, mechanical and chemical faults could also contribute to the intensity of incidents like this.
The National Fire Protection Association, USA, revealed in a study that vehicle fires account for about 20 per cent of all reported fires and the study also states that vehicle fires are usually intensified as a result of neglected human, electrical, mechanical or chemical faults.
Perhaps, this was not an attack on the Ekiti State Governor, as Fani-Kayode claims; a claim which diverts attention from investigation into possible neglect on the part of the driver or the maintenance engineers.
How to prevent a car fire incident
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Maintain your vehicle regularly: take your car to a professional mechanic and get it looked at regularly in order to make sure wirings are in place and leaks are repaired.
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Avoid storing flammable materials in your vehicle: while you may need to transport items such as gas cans and lighter fluids, don’t leave these items in your car on a regular basis because doing so can lead to fire.
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Avoid smoking in your vehicle: smoking cigarettes cab lead to a fire if you accidentally leave a burning cigarette in your vehicle or if hot ash falls into flammable material such as paper.
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Carry a fire extinguisher and fire blanket: A fire extinguisher and fire blanket can help you put out a fire. Purchase a fire extinguisher that is made for an automobile because the causes of a car fire are often related to electrical issues or combustible fuel, which require a different type of extinguisher.
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Avoid driving if you have spilled oil.
