PROPERTIES worth hundreds millions of naira was destroyed in a fire outbreak at a spare parts market in the Idumota area of Lagos State.
In a statement on Saturday, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the fire occurred on Friday night.
Oke-Osanyintolu said a preliminary investigation showed that multiple buildings used as shops for sales of car spare parts were razed.
The statement reads, “Following distress calls via the 767/112 Toll-Free Emergency Lines at 2220hrs, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency activated its Emergency Response Teams from Lekki, Cappa and the Command and Control Centre, Alausa, Ikeja.
“On arrival of the LASEMA Response Teams at the incident scene by 2255hrs, it was discovered that multiple buildings used as shops for sales of car spare parts were found engulfed by fire at the aforementioned location.
“The immediate or remote causes of the fire incident were yet to be ascertained as of the time of writing this report. However, properties and goods worth hundreds of millions of naira were destroyed by the inferno.
“The LASEMA Shark Response Team, LASEMA Fire Unit, LASEMA Tiger Response Team, alongside Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and the Federal Fire Service worked together to curtail the fire, preventing it from escalating to adjoining buildings.
“The law enforcement agencies present at the incident scene activated crowd measures to ensure all-round safety at the incident scene.”
Oke-Osanyintolu added that no casualties were recorded at the incident scene, and no injuries were sustained due to the incident.
He said “dampening down” has commenced to stamp out the remaining pockets of fire, noting that salvage of valuable properties in the recovered shops is ongoing.
According to him, efforts are ongoing to completely extinguish the fire, and recovery operations are still ongoing.