Pandemonium as fire razes filling station, 30 shops, market in Oyo, Jos

 Several people escaped death by a whisker on Monday after fire engulfed Bovas Filling Station in Iseyin, Oyo State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that a tanker was discharging fuel at the station in the Oluwole area of the town, Iseyin-Saki Road, when there was a spark, which ignited the inferno.

Before the arrival of firemen, workers at the station and those in the neighbourhood were said to have made frantic efforts to combat the fire.

The Oyo State Chief Fire Officer,  Mr Moshood Adewuyi, who confirmed the incident, said there was no death or injuries.

“The fire incident happened around 6pm on Monday while a tanker was discharging its content. We thank God that it was just in adjacent direction, about 400 metres away from the affected filling station. The canopy of the filling station and part of the office on the premises were torched,” he added.

Also, goods estimated at millions of naira were destroyed after fire gutted at least 30 shops at Shasha Market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The fire service chief, Adewuyi, said his men received a call to the incident around 4.25am on Tuesday.

 “About 30 shops were razed. We heard that the incident happened when electricity was restored in the area in the early hours of Tuesday. Shasha is a fruit and vegetable market, so the heaps of baskets that were kept at the place fuelled the fire,” he added.

He warned that as the harmattan period set in, residents should be more careful to forestall fire incidents.

In a related development, a midnight fire razed the Katako Timber Market located in the Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Residents said the fire, which started around 11.30pm on Monday, lasted till Tuesday morning before it was put out by men of the state fire service.

PUNCH Metro gathered that it was the 28th time fire would ravage the market since it was opened some years ago.

 “Before, they used to tell us that the fire was as a result of electrical faults. This time, we don’t know the cause because many people disconnected their electric wires from the timber market,” one of the traders, Yusufu Adamu, said on Tuesday.

The Chairman of the Timber B Hausa Line in the market, Yusuf Buba, who also confirmed the incident, lamented that his members and other traders lost goods worth millions of naira to the fire.

He called on the government to come to their aide.

The state Governor, Simon Lalong, who visited the market on Tuesday, promised to set up a committee to look into the root cause of constant fire incidents in the market.

Lalong, who was represented by the Chairman of Jos North LGA, Shehu Usman, said the committee when constituted, would work closely with officials of the market to find lasting solutions to the probem.

The governor said his administration would work with the business community to improve the socio-economic growth of the state by providing a conducive atmosphere for business to thrive.