Goods worth millions of naira have been destroyed in a fire that gutted Enugu Motor Spare Parts Market, known as Tinker.
The fire also claimed the life of the Watch Officer of Enugu State Fire and Emergency Service, Chigozie Ugwu, an engineer; who slumped and died after he and his colleagues had put out the fire.
The President, Enugu Motor Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mike Nome, said the fire started in the wee hours of Wednesday from a shop.
He said: “I got a call from one of our security men around midnight that our market was on fire. Our security men rushed to extinguish it when they noticed the fire. But when they got to the shop, they noticed that it was locked with a burglary proof.
“As they were battling to break into the shop, the fire spread to the next shop, whose owner operated a restaurant. The gas cylinder inside the restaurant exploded, thereby spreading the fire to several shops.
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“When we could not contain the inferno, I called the state fire service around 1am and they came in less than 15 minutes to stop the fire from spreading to other areas.”
Nome said no fewer than 40 traders had their shops destroyed in the fire.
The Chief Fire Officer, Okwudili Ohaa, an engineer; confirmed the incident.
He said they arrived about 1:15am, adding that the officers controlled the fire with about three trucks.
He said one of his dedicated personnel, Ugwu, died after they had put out the fire.
“He was a dedicated officer, who loved to lead by example. He was my best fire officer. He was not actually supposed to come to work because he was still recuperating from an illness, but due to his passion for the job, he decided to join the team.
“We were able to quench the fire. It took us more than two hours to do this. It was a huge fire,” Ohaa added.