Absence of fire hydrant and water inside the premises hindered effective battle against the inferno that razed a Coscharis warehouse on Thursday, fire fighters said.
The warehouse, located at Kirikiri Industrial Area, Lagos, houses computers, tyres, spare parts, gas cylinders, Agro-products, inverters’ batteries, and Abro products – lubricants, greases, fuel
additives, spray paints and so on.
Eye witnesses said that the fire began around 4 a.m. but was noticed about two hours later.
“We saw the fire when it began but we couldn’t go in because that section was locked up,” said a worker at the warehouse who didn’t want to be named.
“We were forced to stand and watch until it became serious and the fire service was alerted,” he added.
The Lagos State Fire Service said that they received a distress call at 6.12 a.m. and fire men from the nearby Sari Iganmu arrived the scene 15 minutes later.
“When we got here, it had become an inferno. We had to activate other nearby stations at Isolo and Ijora,” said Paschal Ologungboye, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Lagos State.
“We have a foam tender (a truck) from headquarters. All the fire trucks have been strategically located to contain the fire,” Mr. Ologungboye said.
“Our only challenge is the lack of water within the premises,” he added.
It was not clear what caused the fire, but witnesses said it could be due to an electrical spark.
No casualties were recorded, according to the fire men.
Armed police officers were stationed around the property to prevent hoodlums gaining entry into the premises.
For over five hours, the fire raged, dark plumes of smoke circling in the sky overhead; inside, tongues of flame licked away at iron beams. Fire men struggled to eke out water from half a dozen trucks available.
In addition to the fire trucks from the Lagos State Fire Services, trucks from The Sun Newspapers, located three buildings away, and the Nigerian Navy lent a helping hand in the battle to douse the inferno.
Nearby factories and private water vendors also volunteered to assist, with the latter insisting a payment be made beforehand.
“It is N7, 000. Who will pay?” An elderly driver inquired from the men urging him to discharge his truck’s content into a waiting state fire service truck.
“My friend, the owner of the property is very rich. Just give us the water,” one of the men pleaded.
The Coscharis Group is owned by billionaire, Comsos Maduka, the major distributor of BMW cars in Nigeria. The warehouse was undergoing a renovation after the sachet water producing subsidiary was moved to nearby Alakija.
A staff of the company, who did not want to be named, estimated the property lost to the inferno at billions of naira.
“I work at the IT section and that part alone is worth over N3 billion. Just yesterday, we offloaded four containers of Deep Cycle inverter batteries,” he said. “This is a heavy loss. It’s just that we can’t cry out because we are men, but we are crying inside.”
Source: Premium Times
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