An early morning fire yesterday gutted sections of Marian Market in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
It destroyed shops.
Eyewitnesses said the inferno was caused by faulty high tension cables.
Traders, who tried to put out the fire, said they called fire service officials, who complained that they did not have what was needed to combat the inferno.
FIRE yesterday swept through a 10-room wooden structure in Ijora Badia, Lagos, destroying properties worth millions of naira. The shanty served as home and shops.
No life was lost.
Items such as, clothes, bed, fan, gas cooker and pots were destroyed in the fire.
Also destroyed were soft drinks, beer, groceries, fruits, food items and smoked fish kept in the shops.
The Nation gathered that all the occupants ran out when the fire started.
The fire began around 10 am and was quenched around noon.
Lagos State fire fighters put out the fire, with the help of some boys in the area.
The fire was said to have been caused by an exploded gas cooker in one of the rooms.
An eyewitness, Luke Made, said the fire began around 10 am.
Made said: “The fire service operatives came about an hour later and finished quenching the fire around noon. Boys in the area also helped out. The fire started from the roof, so the residents were able to run out. The residents lost virtually all their properties to the fire. When the fire started, the police came here; they were the ones that called the fire service. Some traders are here; both those who sell drinks, recharge cards, dealers in fruits, provisions sellers and petty traders lost their business to the fire.”
A victim, Sunday Ehwebayree, said a tenant was cooking inside her room when the house caught fire.
“A woman was cooking indomie noodles with her small cylinder inside this plywood house, she left the gas on, forgot she was cooking, she went out, the gas exploded and the house caught fire.
“The woman ran away, leaving us to struggle here. I live here with my brother, all the provisions we sell here and our money is burnt, everything we have is destroyed. Things lost here is up to N5.5, million,” he said.
Another victim, Ibrahim Buhari, said he was in the toilet when the fire started. “While I was in the toilet, I heard shouts of ‘fire’, so I ran out of the toilet and saw flames everywhere. I immediately started packing out my clothes and properties. I was lucky to have been able to pack out my stuff because most of the residents lost all their belongings to the fire.”
The landlord, Aruna Sango, said: “I was not around when the house caught fire, but when I got here this morning, I learnt the woman who caused the fire was cooking. She got to this apartment less than a month ago and this house has been here for over five years. I have warned the tenants not to cook inside their rooms because the house is made of plywood and they all cook outside, I don’t know why the woman decided to cook inside the house today (yesterday). I have plans to rebuild the house with block this year. Some people, who sell food in the house, were also cooking when the house caught fire. We plead for government’s intervention,” he said.
Sokoto city needs help. No thanks to incessant fire outbreak. No fewer than four cases are recorded daily in the metropolis. This has raised concerns among residents. Last year, there were 481 outbreaks recorded in the state. Eleven people died. Properties worth N2.6 billion were lost.
Commissioner for Home Affairs Alhaji Sadeeq Isah Achida and the Director-General, Sokoto Fire Service Department, Allhaji Murtala Muhammad, said plans were on top gear to embark on extensive public enlightenment campaign to tackle the menace.
The Fire Service Department boss said the campaign was necessary considering the increase in the cases of fire outbreak in the state. Muhammad said the campaign would be in the 23 local government areas of the state. This, according to him, was to complement the state government’s efforts.
He said the government had provided 17 fire fighting engines, several water tanks and two additional water centres, among others.
He said the Aminu Tambuwal administration had approved the establishment of additional eight fire service stations with manpower and equipment, adding “currently there are four functional fire fighting stations in Gwadabawa,Wurno,Tambuwal and Bodinga.”
Muhammad added that plans were on to repair all broken down fire engines and water tankers across the 23 local government areas.
He called on the people, especially mothers, to always put off electrical appliances after use to avoid fire outbreak, assuring that the Department would continue to promptly react to fire outbreaks.
He also said in its efforts to improve the capacity of the fire fighting personnel, employees were trained in Kano and Abuja.
Properties worth several millions of naira were destroyed on Monday morning in a New Year fire blaze in Port Hardouer, River state.
Mr. Ernest Ogwezzy, the Delta Commissioner for Bureau for Special Duties, said the state lost property worth N11 billion to fire outbreaks between January and October this year.
Ogwezzy disclosed this in an interview with the newsmen on Thursday in Asaba.
The commissioner said that the property lost included factories, shops, markets and houses.
He said the Delta fire command was able to save property worth N65.4 billion during the period.
The commissioner also disclosed that the command received a total of 175 fire calls, adding that out of the 175 distress calls, 12 were false calls.
Ogwezzy said that in the course of responding to the calls, the command was able to rescue six persons alive and three other persons dead.
He said that the highest calls received by the command came from Asaba with 69 fire calls, adding that it was closely followed by Warri which recorded 38 fire calls.
“Ughelli was next with a total of 17 calls and Sapele with 16 calls.
“Some of the specific fire incidents recorded during the period include Beta Glass factory, Ughelli, which occurred on July 8, followed by another fire incident which occurred at Upper Agbarho, off Isoko Road, Ughelli on April 6,’’ Ogwezzy said.
The commissioner however noted that the cases of fire incidents reduced slightly compared to what it used to be in the previous years.
Ogwezzy said that the directorate had been enlightening the people of the state through the media on how to avoid fire outbreak.
He said that the directorate had also designated some telephone numbers with which it could be contacted in case of fire outbreaks.
The headquarters of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Abuja was gutted by fire yesterday.
The Director, Search and Rescue of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Sonny Ohemu, who led a team to inspect the scene, said the cause of the inferno was being investigated.
Ohemu explained that the fire incident started at about 6.20 am and the cleaners as well as security guards in the NAFDAC called the Federal Fire Service immediately.
“We arrived the place promptly to put out the fire,’’ said the director who explained that the inferno touched only two offices.
“We must commend the management of the NAFDAC for training people like cleaners to know what to do in case of fire disaster.
“We have to also appreciate the Federal Government for the recent purchase of equipment for fire service which has really helped to curtail the situation,” he said.
NAN, however, reports that security guards are preventing people from gaining entrance to the complex, while staffers of the agency are seen outside the premises.
The management of the NAFDAC is yet to react to the incident just as the mobile phone of the agency’s spokesman, Dr Abubakar Jimoh, was switched off.
A two-month-old baby and his two-year-old brother, Kenneth were Monday night killed after fire razed their makeshift home at Ifako in Lagos.
The incident occurred around 10:30pm, at 31, Shosanya Street, off Sholuyi Bus Stop, Gbagada.
It was gathered that the children’s mother left a lit candle and stepped out to buy something when fire gutted the shanty.
Sources said the children might have suffocated to death because the outbreak was not severe.
The one-roomed structure was said to have served as the family’s bedroom and kitchen.
According to a neighbour, no one could tell if the fire was caused by candlelight or the family’s stove since the woman usually cooked inside the room.
“This fire started around 10pm. We do not know what caused it but the woman was not at home. She went out and left the children inside.
By the time she got back, the room was on fire and the kids had choked,” said the neighbour.
Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Fire Service said the bodies were recovered and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer, Ifako.
The service acknowledged that the children were left unattended by their mother, urging parents to imbibe safety consciousness.
A late night inferno on Monday gutted five of eight shops attached to a bank building on 411 Road Junction, Gowon Estate, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Egbeda.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fire was noticed at the make- shift shops around 11.20 pm, after electricity supply went off.
Many of the shop owners had gone home; those who live in the estate salvaged some goods.
NAN reports that the youth had quenched the fire before the arrival of the men of the Lagos State Fire Service from Agege.
Aggrieved residents and sympathisers urged the state government to install water hydrants in the estate.
They also lamented that some of the areas marked for the development of infrastructure for sports, fire service stations and recreation had been sold to individuals by the FHA.
“The areas meant for these purposes have been built up. The last is the Kuwait Field, which used to house sports facilities, including football, basketball, tennis and others had been appropriated by land grabbers.
“It has now become a shopping complex cum estate within an estate.
“It is regrettable that the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government are not doing much to ensure that the youth have their future their own way,’’ a resident told NAN anonymously.
A resident of the bank building, who does not want his name in print, told NAN that the cause of the fire has not been identified.
He commended the efforts of the residents, including the youth in containing the fire before the arrival of the men of the fire service.
Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has confirmed the destruction of over 50 shops after Monday’s fire incident at the Yoruba section of Watt market in Calabar.
Mr John Inaku, SEMA Director General, who disclosed this after an assessment visit to the area on Tuesday, said the cause of the fire was still unknown.
“Up till now, the cause of the fire is still unknown; over 50 shops were affected during the tragic incident.
“I am here on the directives of the State Government to ascertain the cause of the outbreak and to report back so that something can be done to alleviate the plights of the victims.
“If you take a critical look at the shops, they are closely located. This makes it easy for the fire to spread quickly from one shop to another.
“My advice to shop owners is that they should always put off their appliances after close of business; this would go a long way to prevent disasters like this,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fire affected mostly electrical, provision, jewellery and book shops in the market.
NAN further reports that no casualty was recorded because of the outbreak.
An early morning fire yesterday destroyed property, mostly shops, estimated at millions of naira in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
The fire occurred near a roadblock junction, opposite Chicken Republic on Owo-Akure-Ilesa Road.
It was learnt that the inferno started around 2 a. m and spread to other locked-up stores.
Sources said it was caused by a power surge.
It was learnt that the alleged late arrival of men of the state fire service aggravated the situation as many helpless traders resorted to self-help.
Goods estimated at millions of naira inside the shops were burnt to ashes.
The shops, it was gathered, belong to local traders, like food sellers, barbers, fashion designers, beer parlour owners, among others.
The affected traders were seen wailing and counting their losses on the scene while passers-by commiserated with them.
One of the affected traders, Paul Emmanuel, said about 12 shops were burnt to ashes.
According to him, the goods he lost to the fire were costly tailoring materials, cosmetics, foodstuffs, assorted wares, among others.
Emmanuel said the night fire started from one of the shops before spreading to other locked stores.
The businessman described the inferno as tragic, adding that the traders recently stocked their shops for sales ahead of the Christmas festivities.
He said: “I was called around 4 a.m that fire had gutted my shops at Roadblock Junction. By the time I got there, my shops and many others had been razed.
“Many goods, estimated at millions of naira, have been lost here. It is very sad, especially with Christmas period around the corner.”
Emmanuel said he called the fire service but did not get an answer from them.
Another trader, Mrs Abimbola Adesanya, described the fire as unfortunate.
She urged the government to assist the affected traders to revive their businesses.