Fire kills 103-year-old woman in Lagos

A fire outbreak at a residential building on Bola Street in the Oyingbo area of Lagos State has claimed the life of a 103-year-old woman and destroyed several properties.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said it received a distress call about the incident at about noon on Friday.

In a statement, the agency’s Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said emergency responders arrived at the scene shortly after the alert and found a residential bungalow with two shops attached already engulfed in flames.

According to him, preliminary findings indicated that the fire started in one of the rooms before spreading to other parts of the building.

“Upon the arrival of the LRT at the incident scene, it was observed that a residential bungalow with two shops attached was engulfed by fire at the aforementioned location,” Mr Oke-Osanyintolu said.

He added that emergency response procedures were immediately activated but that the centenarian woman, whose name was not disclosed, was confirmed dead after an assessment of the scene.

“Unfortunately, one life — a 103-year-old centenarian — was lost to the incident,” he said.

LASEMA said the fire affected eight rooms, a mini-flat, six shops and several household items, adding that the body of the deceased had been handed over to her family.

The agency noted that the fire was successfully extinguished through the combined efforts of LASEMA’s Response Team and Fire Unit, in collaboration with other emergency responders. Rescue, recovery and dampening-down operations have since been concluded.

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The cause of the fire had yet to be determined as of the time of filing the report.

The incident adds to a growing number of fatal fire outbreaks in Lagos. The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service recently disclosed that 133 people lost their lives in fire-related emergencies in 2025, out of 1,685 fire incidents recorded across the state.

The service said hundreds of others were rescued alive during emergency responses, underscoring both the scale of fire incidents in Lagos and the ongoing risks faced by residents.