One dead, several displaced as fire destroys building in Lagos

A staff of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was reportedly killed in an early morning fire that razed a two-storey building yesterday at 7, Jemigbon Street, Apollo Estate, off Elebiju, Ketu, Lagos.

This is just as a family of three and scores of traders were, on Thursday, displaced after fire razed their structures destroying goods worth millions of naira in Kirikiri, Apapa Local Government of the state.

The Ketu incident was attributed to power surge from one of the flats on the ground floor before it spread to the other floor in the building.

It was learned that the victim, a lady, was asleep when she was trapped in the inferno which engulfed the entire building.

One of the occupants of the building was said to have raised the alarm, which prompted other neighbours to run for safety, but efforts to rescue the victim proved abortive as her flat was completely burnt.
Before the arrival of the state emergency response units that were alerted as soon as the fire was noticed, the deceased was already roasted.

The General Manager Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Tiamiyu Adesina, who confirmed the development said preliminary investigations revealed that the fire was caused by power surge.

He said the body was recovered by the agency’s Emergency Response Team, ERT, and handed over to the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU), which has since deposited it at the Lagos Mainland General Hospital mortuary.

In related incident, it was gathered that a room and parlor, eight shops and two containers filled with documents were completely destroyed by the inferno that occurred at Kirikiri, Apapa, on Wednesday.

It was gathered that the fire spread from a room at 2/4 Ajose Kirikiri, Apapa Local Government to a company (name withheld) where the containers were kept.

An eyewitness disclosed that the owners were unable to salvage their property.

Confirming the inferno, the Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, said that the two fire trucks, filled with 10,000 litres of water were deployed to the scene before the fire was put out. He noted that aside the two containers filled with documents that were gutted by the inferno, several other containers within the company were saved by the intervention of the fire service officials.

The director disclosed that the fire service official also attended to fire disaster at Kadara Street, Ebutte-Meta, were lock-up shops were destroyed.