At Balogun market, it’s lamentation, cry for help

An early morning fire, which burnt the fifth and sixth floors of a shopping complex in Martins Street, Lagos Island on Tuesday last week, destroyed goods worth millions of naira. Recounting their ordeal, the affected traders, who are largely Igbo businessmen, said they stocked their shops with goods ahead of Christmas and New Year sales. […]

An early morning fire, which burnt the fifth and sixth floors of a shopping complex in Martins Street, Lagos Island on Tuesday last week, destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

Recounting their ordeal, the affected traders, who are largely Igbo businessmen, said they stocked their shops with goods ahead of Christmas and New Year sales.

Also, a yet to be identified policeman posted to help control traffic in the area when the fire started, lost his life as a section of the building crashed on him. He died before he got to the hospital as a result of the multiple injuries he sustained.

Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), men from the State Fire Service, as well as policemen, were on ground on Thursday when our correspondent visited the scene.

Our correspondent observed that government officials were helping to clear the rubbles at the scene of the incident, which was cordoned off. Traders whose shops were not affected were asked to stay away from the building for safety reasons.

A state government official, who did not want to be named, said they were waiting for officers from the State Property Development Authority to carry out integrity impact assessment on the building to satisfy if other floors were safe before shops would be allowed to reopen.

Pointing at the sixth floor, he said, “Part of that area collapsed, killing a policeman, that’s why we are not allowing anyone to go inside to sell. Anyone who wants to evacuate his goods is allowed, but he will be accompanied by a security official.’’

Chukwudi Agaguonye, 42, who has been selling footwear and cloths in the market for about 10 years, said he lost over N15million to the inferno.

“Everything I have worked for here for over 10 years is gone. I have several people depending on me, including four children and three workers I intend to settle next year. One of them has served me for five years,’’ he said.

Shade Bolaji, the secretary of the association of traders in the complex, whose office is located on the fifth floor, said she lost over N5m to the fire.

She said the latest incident was the third in the last three years.

“I still have the hope of recovering if the government would allow us to continue doing business here as soon as possible. I am sure I can get the capital from friends and relatives, or find someone as a guarantor to obtain a loan from the bank.

“Other traders and I got the information about 10pm, but by the time we arrived here, most of our goods had already perished. Looters were also busy carting away some of the goods,” she added.

According to an eyewitness, the fire started from one of the shops a few minutes to 7am, but it was so intense that it easily spread to other shops and raged for over six hours.

Some residents of the area who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday said there had always been fire incidents in the area between November and December every year, except last year when it was armed robbers that invaded the building and carted away cash and goods.

Traders who operate at nearby shops advised the Lagos State Government to seal the building and set up an investigation team to unravel the recurring fire incidents, as well as put adequate security measures in place before reopening it.

It was also gathered that some buildings at Oke-Arin and Docemo areas were on fire, but it was put out through the efforts of Area Boys.

A resident of the area, Sunday Okon, said, “We just saw the plaza burning; we did not know what actually caused the fire. Area Boys tried to put out the fire but couldn’t because of its intensity. We called the Fire Service but they came around 9am,’’ he said.

Mrs Justina Edesanya, a shop owner whose shop was affected by the fire, said the shop was her only means of livelihood.

“Where do I start from? Who will come to my aid? I am the breadwinner of my family. Is this not enough to make someone jump into the lagoon? She asked.

Another shop owner, Ariyo Tosan, called on government to come to their aid, saying they lost all their investments to the inferno.

“A lot of us are single mothers and the responsibility of taking care of our children is on us,’’ she added.

Narrating her experience, Shade Tajudeen said, “I can’t remember when I received the call that the market was on fire, I started coming here immediately. In the previous occasions, we did everything the government instructed us to do. Some said the fire was caused by electrical spark. I had warned everyone to always turn off their electricity connections when there is a power outage.’’

Some people said the traders had not fully recovered from the previous incidents when Tuesday’s fire occured despite all efforts to prevent a reoccurrence.

One of the guards at the market said firefighters did not arrive on time. According to him, they came an hour after the first call was made to inform them of the incident.

“When they came, the water was not enough, I told them to send more water tankers here because the fire was more than we expected,’’ he added.

The director-general of the LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyitolu, said the major challenge faced by emergency responders was getting access to the scene of the incident.

“We have been able to localise and contain the two incidents,” he said, adding that some shop owners hid inflammable and hazardous items like generating sets and petrol in their shops.

In a statement, the agency wrote, “The situation presented peculiar difficulties to responders to access the source of the fire to effectively put it out on time.

“Despite obstacles of inaccessibility via roads, and other setbacks, as well as the fact that all the affected buildings were built together, the LASEMA response team, Lagos State Fire Service, UBA Fire Service and Federal Fire Service were on ground mustering and marshalling all the necessary equipment and manpower to battle the raging fire.

“So far, there are no casualties, and no injuries. Also, nobody is trapped in any of the buildings. Recovery operations are still ongoing with the Skylight fighter truck fully activated and deployed to aid swift recovery as dampening commences,” the statement signed by LASEMA spokesman, Nosa Okunbor added.