300 shops were reportedly destroyed in a fire accident that razed the Ladipo plank market, Orile-Iganmu area of Lagos State on Wednesday.
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Fire Service, Amodu Shakiru, confirmed this to the media in an exclusive interview.
Sources at the scene of the fire accident gathered that the shops which were arranged in lines of 75 shops each, had five lines with four of the lines destroyed by the fire.
A good number of shop owners were seen lamenting the extent of the damage caused by the fire which started at midnight Wednesday before being quelled through a combined effort of the officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and men of the Lagos Fire Service.
The fire service spokesperson said that the fire was not caused by an electrical surge as stated, because there was no power supply to the market hours before the incident and hours after it had commenced.
Mr Shakiru further said, “There are five lines of shops in the market, four of the lines were destroyed by the fire. Each of the lines contained an average of 75 shops which sums the total shops affected to 300. There are other attachment shops which numbers cannot be ascertained”.
“Although we are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire, it can’t be blamed on an electricity surge because there was no power supply to the market hours before the fire broke out and hours after it. Just like most fire incidents, I think it will be a case of negligence on the part of the shop owners, but we are conducting our investigation to unravel the cause of the fire.”
Shakiru further disclosed that efforts were still in top gear to ensure an escalation of the fire due to the inflammatory nature of goods being sold in the market.
“We are still doing everything necessary to curtail further escalation of the fire because the items that are affected are combustible. You know that plank is a flammable material. We have begun evacuation of the debris while ensuring that the fire did not surge again,” he said.
Meanwhile, the traders had an outcry for the loss that the fire had caused them and expressed fear that the Lagos State Government may take over the land after the incident.
