The Nation Newspaper

Tag: midnight fire

  • Midnight fire razes Jos market

    A section of Jos main market has been razed by a mysterious midnight fire with goods worth about half a billion naira destroyed.

    The fire, which source remained unknown, started around 1:30am yesterday.

    The spread of the fire was however contained with the intervention of men of the Plateau Fire Service.

    Plateau Police Commissioner Adie Undie, who led newsmen to the section of the market, applauded efforts of the fire service for containing the spread of the fire to other shops.

    He said: “It is unfortunate that the fire service could not salvage some shops because of the position of where the fire occurred as they could not gain access to it.”

    The police boss sympathised with the affected shop owners and assured them a thorough investigation would be carried out by the police in conjunction with the fire service.

    The police have also promised to cordon off the affected section to prevent looting, “as some of the salvage goods were already at the police post in the market.”

    Management Committee Chairman of Jos North Local Government Council, Philip I. Nyam, thanked the police and fire service for their swift response, while commiserating with those that lost goods and shops.

    Chairman Traders Association of the market, Abdulrahman Yusuf, said over 200 shops were affected including warehouses which contained goods that could be more than half a billion naira.

    Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong condoled with those affected by the unfortunate incident.

    A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communication Yakubu Dati said: “The government is already acting on preliminary recommendations received from a team of assessors who visited the site earlier.

    “The government remains committed to its sacred responsibility of the protection of lives and property as it urges the general public to observe safety precautions at all times.”

     

  • Two infants die in midnight fire

    Two infants die in midnight fire

    Two infants Amirat, 3 and Rokeebat, 5, yesterday died in a midnight fire.

    The fire started from their one-room-and-parlour apartment at Ifelodun Close near Aralamo bus-stop, Ajasa Command, in Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State.

    Their mother was said to be sleeping when her first child woke her to complain about “a strange heat.”

    Other tenants said she tried to call for help while rescuing her first and last child but before she could fetch the other children, the fire had burnt them.

    A neighbour, whose apartment was also affected, said: “We don’t know what caused the incident but two girls Amirat and Rokeebat were burnt. The woman lives in the apartment with her children. It was the first born of the woman that felt the heat of the fire while sleeping in the parlour. He quickly ran to tell his mum in the room. She quickly took the baby and the boy outside shouting fire! fire!! for the neighbours to come to her help. Before she got back to rescue her two daughters, the fire had burnt them.”

    The neighbour said the inferno extended only to her own apartment.

    “The mother couldn’t even say anything after the incident. She was just crying. So, nobody knows how the fire started. But she claimed that she wasn’t even cooking anything and they didn’t have gas or even kerosene; so, they don’t know what caused it. Her husband wasn’t around,” she said.

    The Nation learnt that the woman was taken away with her other kids.

    “The fire service came around 3am when most of the fire had been quenched. They even asked for N50,000 before they could help quench the remaining fire. Please help us tell the government to do something about this because the fire service people were very late nowadays and still asked for money before they could offer any help and they did not even do anything,” the neighbour said.

  • Midnight fire: Shop owners count losses

    Midnight fire: Shop owners count losses

    SHOP owners on Industry Road, opposite Nigerian Breweries Plc factory in Aba, Abia State are counting their losses, following a midnight fire, which gutted their shops.

    The Nation learnt that the fire destroyed goods worth over N1 million.

    But for the quick intervention of fire fighters from the Abia State Fire Service, the damage would have been devastating.

    An eyewitness said those affected were restaurant owners, beer parlour operators, provision shop owners and spare parts dealers.

    Another source, whose shop was among the ones not affected, said: “I was in my home about 12am when I received a call that our shops were on fire. I rushed down to see if we could save our goods. When we got here, we met fire fighters battling to put out the fire. I was lucky that my shop was among the ones not affected. The inferno affected about nine shops.”

    He said they suspected power surge as the cause of the fire.

    Some of the shop owners were accused of leaving their refrigerators on.

    The Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Victor Gbaruko, said goods worth over N1 million were lost.

    He advised people to switch off electrical appliances before closing.

  • Residents ‘lose all’ in midnight fire

    Hundreds of dwellers at the Otto-Ilogbo extension of Ifesowapo community in Ebute-Metta on Lagos Mainland were rendered homeless by an early morning inferno yesterday.

    Although no life was lost, over 50 wooden houses were razed with property worth millions of naira destroyed.

    The residents said a housewife lit a candle overnight which burnt her wooden apartment and spread to other houses.

    Some of the affected residents wept uncontrollably at the sight of what was left of their homes by the fire.

    The chairman of the community, Mr Musbau Agbodimu, said: “I was not at home when the fire started. I was busy monitoring our members who were providing security in the community. About 2.30am, I got a call that fire was raging in the community. I rushed back home, but the inferno was too much. We started making efforts to quench the fire. I made a call to the Fire Service men but before they arrived, the houses have been razed. More than 18 landlords were affected.

    “The only school in the community was burnt. More than 90 pupils cannot go to school now. We spent over a million naira to get the school started, but everything has been destroyed.”