Residents of a one-storeyed building in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, lost property worth millions of naira to a fire incident Friday night.
The fire incident which occured at No 36, Adeniji Street, around Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, in Ibadan, at 11:00 pm, saw the two top flats in the one-storeyed building completely razed.
Tribune Online gathered that the cause of the fire, which caught the occupants of the building unawares, was said to be as a result of high power voltage supplied to the building, while the situation was also made worse by a burst gas cylinder.
According to an eye witness who spoke with Tribune Online, it was a female resident, who was still awake that observed fluctuations in the electricity supply to the house, but took it to be a usual occurrence, until much later a loud bang alarmed the whole occupants of the building, at a time the fire had escalated beyond control.
Before anything could be done, all the property in both flats were said to have been burnt to ashes, as occupants had to hurriedly rush out of the building for safety.
As gathered by Tribune Online, property lost to the inferno include: electronics, furniture and other valuables.
The inferno left a pathetic experience for one of the residents popularly called Alfa, who said he also lost a newly purchased refrigerator he bought on Friday afternoon.
The residents who lamented the situation frowned at the attitude of men of fire services at Molete area, who they said could not respond to their distress call, but “only gave us an excuse when called upon to rescue the situation.”
However, the residents said men of fire services at Ibadan Secretariat were later mobilised, but only came three hours later, exactly at 1:00 pm, bu could arrest the situation as they’ve already lost everything to the fire incident.