Many residents have been rendered homeless after a fire incident on Oke Street, Akowonjo, in the Alimosho area of Lagos State, destroyed a 12-flat building.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the fire, which raged from Friday night into the early hours of Saturday, was caused by an electric cooker.
A tenant in the bungalow was said to have left the appliance on after a power outage and shut the door while going out.
However, disaster struck after power was restored in the area around 8pm on Friday.
An eyewitness, who sold foodstuffs near the burnt building and identified himself only as Sunday, said residents later noticed smoke coming out of the tenant’s room.
He said, “My shop is near the building that got burnt. The power distribution company restored power around 8pm and after some time, we all noticed smoke coming out of the building. Everyone ran to check what led to the smoke, but it was late.
“The tenant in that room went out and his door was locked, so we had to break the door. But the fire had spread and despite all efforts, the house was burnt down. People called the fire service people, but before they got here, things had gone bad. Everybody in that house is now homeless and their property all gone.”
A community leader, Chief Surajudeen Junaid, said he mobilised the youth to contain the inferno before the fire service arrived at the scene.
He said, “I called some of our young men and opened my borehole tap so that they could get water to put out the fire.
“I learnt that what led to the fire incident was that a tenant left his electric cooker on when power was off and upon restoration, he was not at home and this led to the burning down of the house.
“It is an unfortunate incident because as we are also in the thick of the harmattan season, as everyone knows, fire easily burns down things. So, before people could put out the fire, a better part of the building had been burnt. The people living in that house are now homeless, though we thank God that no one died.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Fire Service, Jamiu Dosunmu, said he had no information on the incident.
Meanwhile, the Kwara State Fire Service on Sunday said it saved 50 shops and 12 apartments in five fire incidents between Friday and Saturday.
The incidents were reportedly recorded in various parts of Ilorin, the state capital, and Ilofa, headquarters of the Oke-Ero Local Government Area of the state.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, in a statement, said the agency attended to three fire incidents within the Ilorin metropolis on Saturday, where 48 shops were saved from destruction at Ipata Oloje Market, while eight flats were saved in Agbo-Oba.
“In all the fire incidents, only the one at Agbo Oba was caused as a result of refuse burning. But the remaining two were caused by electric power surge,” he added.
Adekunle said the director of the state fire service, Falade Olumuyiwa, urged citizens to cultivate the habit of switching off their electrical appliances even before bedtime to prevent fire incidents.
The director, according to Adekunle, also advised the public to stop careless refuse burning in their environment.
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