Operators of a car mart destroyed by a fire that gutted a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation filling station on Yaya Abatan Street, Ogba, Lagos, have blamed their loss on the low response of the Lagos State Fire Service.
They alleged that while the fire raged, firefighters waited for backup after the content of a water tank they brought exhausted.
The fire had broken out from a diesel-laden tanker parked on the premises of the filling station on Monday, destroying two pumps, and part of the building in the facility.
The inferno also spread to the car mart beside the filling station, razing many vehicles. Although the fire was eventually put out by firefighters from the state’s fire service, the manager of the car mart, Mr Lukman Apanpa, told our correspondent, who visited the scene on Wednesday, that fire fighters’ response was slow.
He said, “We were not around due to the lockdown. I was at home when I got a call around 12pm that there was a fire outbreak at the NNPC filling station beside our facility. I rushed down immediately. By the time I got here, it had affected the car mart. I was lost. We were able to get into the office to get the documents. People assisted us and we were about to move out some vehicles. I met one water tanker but it stopped working after a while. The firefighters said they were expecting some (tankers) which came late. The response was slow.’’
Another stakeholder in the automobile firm, Mr Akande Samuel, said eight cars worth millions of naira were completely destroyed while 11 vehicles were partly burnt.
City Round learnt that in the panic that ensued during the fire outbreak, vehicles in the car mart another one behind the filling station, were quickly evacuated.
In the process, a stranger on the pretext of assisting in the rescue mission reportedly stole a Range Rover.
An official at the car mart, Abdulsalam Abdulsalam, said the suspected thief abandoned the vehicle in the neighbourhood because it ran out of fuel.
He said, “Someone who was trying to help us took one Range Rover car away. Fortunately, we have recovered the vehicle. The person abandoned it and fled with the key. He has not been arrested.”
A fuel attendant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the impact would have been much but for the lockdown.
However, the acting Head of Lagos State Fire Service, Margaret Adeseye, debunked the allegation, saying that the agency responded promptly immediately a distress call was received.
She added that fire stations from Alausa and three other stations were mobilised to the scene with all the necessary equipment.
She said, “I don’t know what they mean by poor response. We received the call at 12.02 pm. That was the first call we received that day and the fire station from Alausa promptly responded. The crowd was much when we got there and people were dragging the hose with our men. I had to call the RRS (Rapid Response Squad). It was when the police came that we were able to work. Probably they didn’t call us on time, thinking they could handle the fire. If a fire breaks out two hours earlier and we are not called on time, it is when we receive a distress call that we will respond.”

By Afeez Hanafi