Fire Guts 44 Shops at Ibadan’s Bodija Foodstuffs Market

…As 15 Shops Completely Razed as Faulty Wiring Is Suspected

Fire has destroyed property and other valuables worth millions of naira at the popular Bodija foodstuffs market in Ibadan North local government area on Monday.

Fifteen in a row of forty four shops were completely razed by fire while the remaining 25 shops were partially touched.

National Daily News Correspondent gathered that the inferno which has thrown the entire traders community into a mourning mood started from one of the affected shops.

Confirming the incident in a statement, the Special Adviser on Fire Services Reform/ Chairman Fire Services Agency, Hon. Dr. Moroof Adebayo Akinwande expressed shocks over the devastating blows that the inferno has dealt on tbe affected traders.

He attribtuted the fire incident to electrical wiring fault from one of the affected shops.

He, however, added that timely arrival of the fire fighting crew mimimized the losses.

His account of the incident, ‘The firefighting crew, led by Assistant Chief Fire Superintendent (ACFS) Bamidele promptly mobilized and responded to the scene. On arrival, the crew discovered that Fifteen (15) out of a row of fourty-four (44) shops had been engulfed by flames and thick smoke billowing from the affected premises.

‘The firefighters immediately commenced firefighting operations and successfully brought the fire under control, preventing it from spreading beyond where the fire was met.

“The fire was curtailed without serious damage to the affected shops.
The suspected cause of the fire incident was the upsurge from faulty electrical wiring’

In order to prevent the re-occurence of such incident in the market, Akinwande emphasized the importance of installing and maintaining functional fire fighting extinguishers in every commercial building, shops and household bin order to curb fire incident at incipient stage.