Traders count losses as fire razes shops in Lagos Island

•Blockade of right of way impedes emergency operation, says officials

Property and goods worth millions of naira were destroyed yesterday, following a fire outbreak at No. 3/5 Gbajumo Street, Italian Plaza, Balogun, Lagos Island, where a building used for warehouse and stores with multiple containerised shops were razed.

Although, no life was lost, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFRS) and other emergency workers struggled to access the scene of the fire as makeshift shops hindered their operation.
   
The outbreak was said to have started from the second floor of the five-storey plaza used for stocking and trading shoes, bags, jewelry and other combustible products at 11: p.m., before spreading to the first, fourth and the fifth floor.

Two fire crews from the Ebute Elefun and Oniru of the LSFRS were said to have immediately mobilised to the scene before being joined by Alausa crew to combat the inferno.
 
As at 1:30 p.m., yesterday, the LASEMA team was still struggling to claim right of way and pulling the makeshift shops to access the building. While this was going on, the fire rescue team, were also battling with scavengers who were struggling to cart away iron and other valuables from the makeshift shops that were destroyed.

A trader who lost her goods in the inferno told The Guardian that the government’s refusal to clear the makeshift shops from the road was an impediment to the rescue operation.
 
She said: “I got the information past 12: a.m., that the fire started past 11:p.m., and I drove down here and met policemen and begged them to help me mobilise (Agbero) street urchins but they refused. We have complained about the makeshift shops built on the way but they have refused to take them off, no vehicle can access the street; if they had listened to me and cleared the street, we will only lose goods in a floor instead of the whole building.

The Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye said: “Preliminary investigation revealed that the cause of the fire could be attributed to electrical upsurge as power was restored in the community following an earlier outage.

The building is surrounded by container shops with metallic burglary proofs causing Firefighters to first engaged in cutting and breaking to gain access as structural designs of the terrain is so defective.”