Another Lagos market razed by fire

Goods and property worth millions of naira were destroyed by fire on Friday at the popular Berlin Market, near Mandilas on Williams Street, off Marina in central Lagos.

The incident occurred four days after five buildings were razed in the popular Balogun Market located also in central Lagos.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but the people who spoke to NAN said it could not be unconnected with the people who slept there.

They also alluded to the fact that many of the people who reside in the market and the traders used electricity generators because of inconsistent power supply.

They noted that it could have resulted from a spark from power surge when Eko Electricity Distribution Company restored light in the early hours of the morning.

An assistant chief fire officer of the Lagos state fire service said the course of the fire could not be determined immediately.

The officer, who said he was hastening to quell another fire somewhere in Lagos, said the incident had been curtailed with the assistance of other rescue agencies at the scene.

Fire fighters from adjourning banks, including the United Bank for Africa (UBA), First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Julius Berger and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were seen putting off the fire.

The Head of CBN’s security department, who identified herself as Yaya, said the bank brought its fire outfit to prevent it from spreading to its premises.

She said that the fire began early on Friday morning and was a threat to the CBN premises and other banks within the locality, compelling them to join in putting out the fire.

She lamented the way the market was constructed, admonishing the state government to urgently do something to reconstruct it into a modern market.

“Our trucks found it difficult to get to the scene of the fire due to the way the market is constructed.

“Some of the traders sleep within the market and use electricity generators popularly known as `I better pass neighbor.”

Rapheal Oyeke, a trader who deals in selling of clothing materials and shoes, said that he lost all his goods to the fire.

Another trader, Alozie, who apparently was shattered by the development, said he had just returned from the Christmas and New Year holidays on Thursday only to meet the ugly incident.

Other traders, including women were seen wailing as a result of the incident.

Meanwhile, the Lagos state government says it had concluded arrangements to install 400 fire hydrants as part of its determined efforts to boost its fire-fighting power in the state.

Rasaq Fadipe, the state director of Lagos fire service, said the 350 existing fire hydrants in the state would be reactivated, while 50 new hydrants would be built across the state.

“While we have completed the installation of the 50 new hydrants, we have reactivated 250 of the existing 350 ones,” he said.

“What we have done is to bring above the ground level the old ones and boost the low water pressure.”

The director, however, said paucity of fund was responsible for the delay in the completion of the reactivation of the remaining fire hydrants.

He decried the situation where people either park indiscriminately in front of the fire hydrants or build shops to obstruct the location of the fire hydrants.

Fadipe, however, disclosed that the law empowered the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) to arrest erring offenders as well as impound any vehicle that obstructs the fire hydrants.

He said that the Fire Service had also been educating the public on the need to avoid vandalizing the fire hydrants.