12th March, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
At least 17 shops at the Iponri Shopping Complex, near Surulere area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, were razed by fire last night with goods worth millions of naira destroyed.
The fire started around 11:18 p.m. Tuesday and burnt about 17 shops before officials of the Lagos State Fire Service put it out.
On 6 March, 2014, fire also razed the same shopping complex, with two shops burnt before the fire service officials put out the fire.
General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said: “Immediately the fire started, emergency response plan was activated. The fire was put out after the combined efforts of emergency responders. No life was lost but it is pathetic to note that properties worth millions of naira were lost.”
Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe told P.M.NEWS that the disaster couldd have been worse but for the intervention of the fire service men.
“We battled the inferno when it was still raging,” he said, adding that officers at the fire service station at Sari-Iganmu were quickly mobilized as they came with their fire service tanker with 10,000 litres of water to quell the raging inferno.
Fadipe explained that because of the magnitude of the inferno, the fire service stations at Ilupeju and Onikan were quickly mobilized with each of the station coming with 10,000 litres of water which was used in putting out the fire.
He disclosed that most of the items burnt in the 17 shops were electricity generating sets, with other items such as textile and plastic materials.
The fire service boss said the inferno was caused by electricity surge.
According to him, some of the electric cables in the shopping complex were resting on the shops and that he had told the traders to get a good electrician to adjust the electric cables to prevent them from resting on their shops.