25 Shops, Properties Worth Millions, Consumed As Fire Guts Ikorodu Market

Confirming the incident, the Lagos state fire service said the fire which razed a section of the market consumed properties worth millions of naira.

The inferno which was said to have started at about 1:20am when the traders had retired from the day’s business, was attributed to a power surge.

According to some traders, a distress call made to the state emergency allegedly prevented the fire from escalating, following their prompt response.

Some others accused the electricity distribution companies of their failure to respond when called, as their plea fell on deaf ears.

The traders said, “Before going home on Tuesday, there was high voltage which affected electrical appliances such as bulbs, fans and sockets, a signal that havoc will soon be recorded but the distribution company turned deaf ears to this.

‘’The office of the electricity supplier is very close to the market and we called their emergency number asking them to switch off the panel leading to the market but there was no response until the fire escalated and almost spread to their office.”

An eyewitness, Austin Daniel, narrating the incident said, “I was confused when I got a distress call thinking it was a small matter and I rushed to the scene with two buckets of water but it dawned on me that it was not a child’s play when I got to the scene.

‘’Anyway, credit goes to the fire services who were readily on ground before me and many other shops were saved,” he said.

Vanguard reports that a combined team of policemen from Sagamu Division, Nigeria Security, Civil Defense Corps and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency were on ground

An affected victim simply identified as Sunday said, “I thought I was coming to sympathise with others but I was shocked to discover that my shops were among the affected shops.”

Lagos State Fire Services urged traders to switch off all electrical apparatus at the close of business daily.