Though the causes of the incidents may differ, the frequency of the occurrences has become a cause of concern to the affected persons.
In this piece, The PUNCH highlights the fire incidents that occurred in December 2022:
Lagos warehouse
On Monday, December 12, fire gutted a warehouse on Idumagbo Avenue, in Obun Eko area of Lagos Island.
Though no death or injury had been recorded in the incident, the cause of the incident had not been made public as of press time.
On the same day, a minor fire incident occurred on the second floor of the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, and no lives were lost, neither was the cause of the fire ascertained.
Anambra timber market
Goods estimated at millions of naira have been destroyed after fire gutted some shops at Ogbo Osisi, a timber market in Onitsha, Anambra State, on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
The Chairman of the Bridgehead Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, Chinedu Ezekwike, said the fire started in one of the shops and rapidly spread to others due to the combustible materials, including machines and equipment of different types.
Ezekwike revealed that the fire was caused by machines used in smoothening finished wood products like doors and chairs.
Abuja fuel station
A tanker carrying petrol went up in flames while delivering fuel to a Conoil station at Area 10 of Abuja, on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
Eyewitnesses said the fire started while the tanker was trying to offload its contents and spilled some of the fuel in the process.
While no lives have been reported lost, cars were burnt in the inferno.
Kwara fuel station
On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, Fire gutted the K&R Filling Station, Oke Agodi, Ilorin, in the Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the state fire service, Hassan Adekunle, said property estimated at about N21.7m was lost to the fire, while the estimated property saved from the inferno was put at N48.4m.
However, there was a mild drama when a soldier and two officials of the Kwara State Fire Service were injured by suspected hoodlums who attacked them while they carried out a rescue operation.
Kano diesel tankers
Five tankers containing 20,400 litres of diesel caught fire in the Farawa Kwanar Yashi area of Kano State on Tuesday, December 6.
According to the state fire service, the fire started from a generator spark as the portable generator was used to upload the products from the diesel tankers to surface tanks in an uncompleted building used as a diesel storage area.
The spokesperson of the state fire service, Saminu Abdullahi, said that no casualty was recorded in the inferno, adding that although three people were trapped in the fire, they had been rescued and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Sokoto students hostel
Students at the Benjee Hostel, a private facility in the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, were displaced after fire engulfed their rooms on Friday, December 2, 2022.
The hostel is located near the Faculty of Agriculture and the school’s clinic, and it was learnt that many of the students had gone to a mosque for the Jummah prayer when the incident happened.
The fire was reported to have been caused by an electrical fault.
Jigawa shops
Six shops and valuables were razed on Friday, December 2, after a fire outbreak at Gadar Kogi in the Hadejia Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
The spokesperson for the state’s National Security and Civil Defense Corps, Adamu Shehu, said the corp’s divisional office received a distress call some minutes after 1pm after which disaster response officers rushed to the scene to put out the fire and saved unburnt items from getting destroyed.
Six shops belonging to one Usman Mai Shago and five others were burnt to ashes, while valuables worth millions got destroyed.
Ebonyi building
A one-storey building on Udensi Street, in the Abakaliki metropolis, Ebonyi State, was gutted by fire on Friday, December 2.
The fire incident, which started at about 1.30 pm, left many tenants of the affected building devastated.
Sources said the incident resulted from a surge in the electricity supply voltage in the area, which happened intermittently between 9 am and 1:30 pm before the incident started.
