A tragedy occurred in Enugu on Wednesday as an official of Enugu State Fire Service, Chigozie Ugwu lost his life while attempting to quench a fire outbreak at the Enugu Motor Spare parts market, coal camp.

The fire consumed motor spare parts and other goods worth several millions of naira and left the affected traders in pain.

Our correspondent gathered that Ugwu, a Mechanical engineer was among the team deployed to quench the fire in the market that started around 1:10 am on Wednesday.

Enugu State Chief Fire Officer, Okwudili Oha, who confirmed his death said he had been deposited at the morgue of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH).

He stated that Ugwu collapsed moments after he and other officials battled for over two hours to stop the fire, adding that he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

“He was a dedicated officer, who loved to lead by example. He was my best fire officer. He was not actually supposed to come to work because he was still recuperating from an illness but due to his passion for the job, he decided to join the team.

“We have been able to quench the fire that took us more than two hours. It was a huge loss”, he added

Meanwhile, President of Enugu State Motor Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mike Nomeh, confirmed that no less than 45 shops stocked with vehicle spare parts and other goods were affected.

He stated that the fire started from one of the shops and spread to a neighbouring restaurant that uses gas to cook.

“I got a call from one of our security men around midnight that our market was on fire. Our security men promptly rushed to stop it when they noticed the fire. But when they got to the shop, they noticed that it was further locked with burglary proof.

“As they were battling to break into the shop, the fire escalated into the next shop which operated restaurant and immediately a gas cylinder inside the restaurant got exploded, thereby spreading the fire to several shops.

“When the fire went beyond us, I called the state fire service around and they promptly came in less than 15 minutes to stop the fire from spreading to other areas.”

He lamented the devastation and pain the fire created for the traders, and appealed to the state government and we’ll meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the affected traders .

Our correspondent visited the market on Wednesday and met some of the traders in their mournful mood.

One of the shop owners, Ikenna Eneh, stated that “I lost everything. Not even a pin was removed from my shop. I got the information last night that the fire is on fire. When I got here, I could not find a way to enter my shop due to thick smoke. It is really sad and unfortunate.”
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