No fewer than six buildings have crumbled on Tuesday, April 9 and 14 others gutted as a ravenous fire swept through shops and houses at a stretch of Docemo street in idumota, Lagos Island, devouring many things on its track, including yet – to -be quantified goods.
Some witnesses estimated that properties worth billions of naira had gone up in flames in the Tuesday inferno which struck barely weeks after parts of some shops with goods were licked up by fire in the same Docemo area of Lagos Island.
They said the fire started from a generator spark on a penthouse and as the owner threw it and fuel away, it triggered a second but huge spark that led to the engulfing inferno.
Emergency responders comprising operatives of the Fire Service, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) were sighted battling to quell the fire, prevent loss of lives and maintain orderliness.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the cause of the fire had not been established and that investigation was still ongoing to determine it.
Also speaking, the Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, attributed the escalation of the fire to the storage of fuel products in the penthouse of the building where the fire started and chemical materials stored in the building.
Adeseye said, “The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service has successfully contained a major fire incident affecting 14 buildings, with two structures fully collapsed and two partially collapsed. The cause was traced to refuelling a generator among others, with fuel storage in kegs at the penthouse of a three-building complex housing a printing shop with chemical contents.
“Swift firefighting operations by the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, which has now moved to damp down strategy, mitigating all threats and ensuring public safety; enumeration of shops and goods lost are ongoing, and preventive measures will be enforced.
“All the state’s emergency responders, including that of the national and private partners, are collaborating at the scene. The public is urged to handle combustible materials with caution to prevent future incidents.”
Residents and traders surged forward to see what could be salvaged from the fire but some of them beat a sudden retreat to save their lives as the inferno raged on intensely.
However, the affected traders have started counting their losses with some of them lamenting that they had just recently restocked their shops with goods before the fire disaster swept in.
