Properties worth millions of naira was destroyed when fire gutted seven shops located in Jakande Estate ,Oke-Afa Isolo in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the fire started from one of the shops through a generating set when the owner was putting? fuel? into the generator without switching it off.
Eye witnesses said that the fire could have been curtailed but for the lack of water within the area and the dry weather which aided the quick spread of the fire.
A Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) official, Taiwo Onadeko who narrated the incident, said that the shop owners could not retrieve all their goods as the fire spread from one shop to another quickly.
He said, “Immediately I saw the fire, I radio my boss, he was the one who called the fire service men at Iyana Isolo and Ikotun but due to the traffic on the road, the fire service team could only make it 30 minutes after the fire had started and the shops were already burnt, but they were able to stop it from spreading to other shops along the same lane”.
He said the shop owners made attempt to save some of their goods, but hoodlums who disguised as sympathizers took advantage to loot some of the goods rescued from the inferno.
“People came out from nowhere to help the shop owners to rescue the goods, but what we saw later was that they were carrying the goods to their houses.
Some took generators, fans and even clothes. A woman who runs a boutique and a guy who deals in CDs and VCDs had to carry the little they were able to rescue to the next shop,” he said.