No fewer than 17 shops were destroyed after a fire swept through Sabo Market in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State in the early hours of Tuesday.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed that the fire broke out at about 1:10 a.m. and was successfully contained before it could spread to other sections of the market.
LASEMA spokesperson Olawale Afolabi, in a statement, said preliminary investigations indicated that the fire started in one of the shops before spreading to adjoining stalls.
According to the agency, the blaze was likely caused by an electrical surge while public power supply was active.
Emergency responders from LASEMA and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service swiftly launched firefighting operations, preventing the incident from escalating into a larger disaster.
A post-incident assessment revealed that 17 of the 32 shops in the affected section of Sabo Market were damaged. Goods destroyed in the fire included provisions, groceries, foodstuffs and other merchandise.
Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were recorded.
“The remaining shops within the affected row, as well as adjoining shops in the market, were largely salvaged due to the timely response of emergency teams,” Afolabi said.
He added that recovery operations had been completed and the LASEMA Response Team had returned to base.
Reacting to the incident, LASEMA Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, urged traders, market leaders and residents to prioritise electrical safety by ensuring proper wiring of shops, avoiding the overloading of electrical appliances and carrying out regular inspections of electrical installations.
He also advised residents to report emergencies promptly through the state’s toll-free emergency numbers, 112 and 767.
The Sabo Market fire comes just three days after a three-storey residential building was gutted by fire in the Ikosi area of Lagos State. LASEMA confirmed that no lives were lost in that incident.
Source: Punch
