Fire yesterday destroyed cars, mosque, houses and other property believed to worth millions of naira at Magodo and Surulere areas of Lagos State. The Magodo fire incident was said to have started about noon at Number 15, Adebiyi Street, Phase 1, Isheri area, and destroyed property said to worth millions of naira. A witness, who gave his name simply as John, said the fire razed the two flats on the first floor of a one-storey building. John said the inferno could have wreaked more havoc but for the timely intervention of the men of the State Fire Service, who put out the fire. He said: “From our workshop, we saw the smoke from the fire and we quickly mobilised the boys in the area to put out the fire. We thank God that we were able to put it out to a reasonable extent. “We also thank the fire service who arrived promptly to put out the fire completely. Nobody died or injured but it destroyed property worth millions of naira.”

A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused electric distribution company of not addressing the issue of the erratic power supply, which led to the fire incident. He said: “We’ve been having issues with electricity for more than four months. We have called the attention of the electric distribution company to it, all to no avail. Power has been fluctuating since morning and that was what led to the electrical spark that caused the fire; the electrical distribution company is our major problem.” Similarly, there was another fire outbreak around Mechanic Village at Olatunde Onimole Street, by Censors Market, Aguda, Surulere. It was learnt that the outbreak was caused as a result of someone refilling gas in his shop in the area. The outbreak was said to have affected cars parked around the area among other property. T he Lagos State Fire Service Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mrs. Bola Ajao, confirmed the two incidents.
Ajao said officials of the service were deployed to put the situations under control. She said: “The main building at the upper flat of the Magodo house caught fire and our Alausa station responded immediately about 12.29p.m. They were later supported by Ikeja fire station.

The fire was contained to only the burning part while other apartments were salvaged. “The call for the Surulere outbreak was received simultaneously as that of Magodo. The Sarri Iganmu and Ilupeju fire stations also responded about 12.38p.m. Four vehicles and three motorcycles were affected.” The affected area was the mechanic spot while a mosque and bungalow were partially affected.”