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| Xmas Day Fire |
Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has been urged to ensure the establishment of a fire station at a major plank market at Alaro area of Sango in Ibadan.
The call came against the backdrop of fire disaster that destroyed more than 250 shops and property valued at several millions of naira on Christmas Day, although there was no casualty.
The general secretary of Ibadan Timber Dealers Association, Mr. Gbenga Fashoro, and a cross section of traders in the market made the appeal to the state government yesterday.
Fashoro promised that the authorities of the market would provide land for the government to build the mini-fire station, adding that fire disaster has become yearly occurrence in the market. He, however, described the latest tragedy as the worst so far.
According to eyewitnesses, the inferno began at about 2pm on Friday from a building adjacent to the plank market, probably as a result of gas explosion and spread to nearby shops.
A trader, who craved anonymity, said that but for the quick intervention of men of Oyo State Fire Service, the whole market would have been razed by the raging inferno.
The fire reportedly continued until the early hours of Saturday.
One of the early callers at the scene of the incident was Mr. Abiodun Awoleye, member representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. He was said to have sympathised with the traders and promised to sink a borehole in a bid to solve the problem of water scarcity in the plank market.
Although, general secretary of the timber dealers sssociation could not immediately put a figure on the losses suffered in the market, he simply put it at several millions of naira.
Apart from the market, the fire also razed four houses very close to the market partially.
Though the leadership of the market could not give the exact figure of all the shops in the plank market, they said almost half of the market was burnt.
Culled from Sunday Sun.