by S’ola Filani

A fire which started on Monday night around 8 pm and extended to the early hours of Tuesday morning has engulfed five buildings and a sawmill in Oko-Baba area of Ebute-Metta, Lagos, displacing over 5,000 persons and destroying properties worth millions of naira.

A resident of the area, Olakunle, said  many of the residents of the buildings had gone to bed when the fire started.

“It started around 10.30 in the night, a boy was preparing noodles on the stove that night, close to where a generator was, and suddenly an explosion occurred and because it was a sawmill, with wood being catalyst, the fire spread rapidly and raged for hours, before it was eventually put out, “ the resident said.

He, however, added that nobody was injured in the incident, as people instantly raised the alarm and residents were assisted out of the buildings and shops.

Director of the Lagos State Fire and Emergency Service, Rasak Fadipe, confirmed the incident and also confirmed that men of the state fire fighting agency were attacked by hoodlums.

The hoodlums were reportedly trying to take advantage of the situation to loot properties from the burnt buildings, when they clashed with fire-fighters working at the scene.

Fadipe urged residents of the state to be very careful in handling electrical appliances and also advised them to always instantly alert fire-fighters whenever there was fire incident.

The spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye,  also confirmed the incident and added that no life was lost to the incident.

Sola