Traders Count Losses As Fire Razes Lagos Plank Market
By Olalekan Olabulo – Lagos
MANY traders at the Popular Jakande Plank Market in Lagos were left bemoaning their fate aftermath of the fire that razed the market.
Properties worth millions of naira, including shops, houses, a mosque and goods were destroyed in the fire that started on Friday night till Saturday morning.
Sunday Tribune gathered that no fewer than 294 shops, two residential buildings, and one mosque were burnt in the incident, but the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the state fire service, which confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday, said 378 shops were caught in the inferno.
The statement said: “The agency received a distress call on Friday night at 9:30pm regarding a fire outbreak at Oke-Afa planks and building materials market, Ejigbo and deployed its resources immediately.
“Consequent upon the arrival of the agency’s responders at the scene of the incident, it was discovered that a plank market which consists of 378 shops at the above location was engulfed in a wild inferno on Friday night and continued raging till this morning, Saturday 18th, December 2021”
The agency also said that “The immediate cause of the inferno could not be ascertained as of the time of filling in this report.”
The agency lamented that “all efforts by the agency’s response team, its fire men in collaboration with the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading to adjoining buildings proved successful as the fire was curtailed from spreading further and put out completely.
“Fortunately, there is no record of casualties and no loss of lives. The cause of the fire which damages cannot be immediately ascertained still remains unknown as investigation continues in order to unravel its cause,” the agency stated.
According to the statement, the agency’s Director General, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu sympathised with the owners of the affected shops and buildings in the market, just as he appealed to the entire traders in the market to insure their properties and be safety conscious.
