Two markets were on fire last month. Why do market fires happen?

by Adedayo Ademuwagun

Every now and then a market fire happens somewhere in the country, and people lose their business and a lot of money. Many people never fully recover from these losses.

Last month, there was a fire at a cattle market in Ogun state, and just three weeks before that, there had been another fire at one wood market in Lagos. The fires consumed dozens of shops and destroyed businesses. These are just two of the most recent market fires in the country.

The Abule Egba wood market incident illustrates how market fires happen and what people involved do before, during and after the accident.

This fire happened on September 9 around midnight when the market was closed. People around the market tried to put out the fire, but they failed. So they rang the state emergency numbers and alerted the emergency people, but the fire brigade didn’t show up.

When that failed, they rang an influential man in the community known as Ewe. It was he who drove to the Agege fire station, just two kilometres away, and tried to save the day.

He tells me, “After the people had called 767 persistently but the fire fighters didn’t come, they called me. I was sleeping in my house. So that night I drove to the fire station with some of my people and we banged the gate to wake them up.

“When they responded, it was then we realised that they didn’t have the facility to respond to such an emergency. They had only one truck, and it wasn’t enough. Also, there weren’t enough fire fighters on the ground. They had to make distress calls to other fire stations to rally round support. So while we waited for them to come with us, the fire continued to ravage the market.

“By the time we finally got to the market and they started work, they soon ran out of water. We had to get them water. Clearly, they were not prepared and equipped for that emergency. If they were, it would have made some difference.”

At the fire station, I meet Chief Superintendent Laurence Oladejo, the head of the station to hear the fire brigade’s side of the story. He tells me, “The people hurried to us to alert us about the fire. That’s how we found out, and immediately we went with them and did our best to subdue the fire. We didn’t hesitate. We were swift about it.”

The fire destroyed a good part of the market, and apart from the wood traders, some people doing some other business within the premises also lost their business to the fire. Bimpe’s restaurant was completely burnt, and she lost ‘millions’.

When I met her the day after the fire, three weeks ago, she had put two benches and some cooking utensils on the bare floor and was already cooking again. She told me she was trying to bounce back.

“I was very shattered when I got here and saw what happened, she said. “My freezers and everything else were gone. A lot of us borrowed money from the bank and we had just put in a lot of money in our business. Some people collapsed when they got here and saw what had happened to their shop. It is a very terrible experience.”

The same day the fire happened, the market leaders began rebuilding the destroyed stalls with wood. Now, the place is fully reconstructed and trade has since resumed as usual. One person at the market also told me that the leaders gave some money to victims to recompense them. So now everyone has moved on.

One of the reasons why fires recur at markets is that after a fire, the traders mourn their loss for a while, then they rebuild and try to recover — and move on. But they don’t inquire to determine the cause of the fire and take right actions to make sure a fire doesn’t happen like that again.

According to sources at this wood market, this fire must have been caused by an electric problem, and that wasn’t the first fire there that would be imputed to an electric problem.

One of the traders tells me in private, “Few years ago before I moved here, there was an electric fire that destroyed a lot of stuff. This one, too, is believed to have been caused by an electric problem. Yet, the market leaders haven’t done anything to get exactly how and why the fire happened. They just rebuilt and everyone carried on without doing anything to make sure this thing doesn’t happen again.”

Oladejo says about this, “We have a fire prevention unit in the fire service. We go to communities and markets to enlighten them about fires and how they can prevent them. But most times they don’t follow simple guidelines. Most fires are caused through negligence and impropriety. They are caused because people simply don’t do the right thing.”

Back there at the market, one trader tells me, “The wiring and connections in some shops here are not properly done. There are naked wires hanging here and there. Some people pass wires around inappropriately to tap electricity from nearby, disregarding proper electrical procedure. All these things could have caused a fire.”

When I went to the market leaders’ office to hear their side, they were very hostile and sent me away. Some traders whom I approached also refused to cooperate with me. It appeared these people and their leaders were hiding something which they didn’t want the press to publicise.

But someone gave me a tip.

“They won’t speak to you because they fear a probe and fear that the government would close their market. They’re only concerned about making money. No thoughts for safety.”

Today, when I visit Bimpe’s place to see how she’s getting on, she’s been able to put a wooden shed together and her customers are eating peacefully. Meanwhile, a carpenter is working to put in a roof so that her customers can eat without being beaten by the rain. Her resilience is truly remarkable.

“I couldn’t just sit at home, or else I’d lose my mind. This is why I just had to get right back to work. This is a lowly place compared to the level I was before. But what can I do? I have to start from somewhere again.”

Comments (14)

  1. Govt should build more fire stations

  2. Their lives will never remain the same again.

  3. @Abel. Seconed.

  4. No serious fire brigade body to regulate fire issues in the country

  5. End time things

  6. Serious something

  7. Government should intervene in this fire issues. how will they survive?

  8. Too Bad

  9. eeeya. people are really suffering in Naija.

  10. its like the new trend in naija now.

  11. Sometimes, the mistake comes from the traders themselves

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