Items worth millions of naira were Sunday razed by fire at grocery and household supermarket, Grandex stores, believed to be owned by Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Grandex stores is located at Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.
The incident which reportedly started at 3:00 pm, from the back of the supermarket, gradually spread to the main store.
The men of Oyo State Fire Service who came to put off the fire were not able to do so as the fire kept raging, while it took the combined efforts of the Federal Fire Service to extinguish the fire.
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The federal fire fighters who came later went to the area close to the back of the stores to spray water to the raging fire, which finally put an end to the incident.
The team leader of the Federal Fire Service who spoke with journalists under the condition of anonymity, attributed the incident to electrical sparks and over-loading of electrical sockets.
Those reading newspapers at the popular Osuntokun junction also saved the day as they rallied round to fetch water and bring fire extinguishers to quench the fire before the arrival of fire fighters.
According Mr. Bamidele Osinowo, an eyewitness who spoke with this correspondent said: “It started about 3.p.m. When we heard the shouts from the workers, I immediately called the Oyo State Fire Service.
“I brought out my phone to call the fire people. Within ten minutes, they came with a bigger truck. We moved in to join them to bring extinguishers . Somebody from Zenith Bank brought one another person brought from Afe Babalola Educational Centre, Bodija.”
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Mr. Osinowo decried the absence of fire hydrants in the supermarket, saying if the hydrants were there the fire would have been put off on time.
Later, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi arrived at the scene, as some of the aides joined in evacuating goods from the stores, while some stern-looking officers of Operation Burst were on ground to prevent looting.
In a related development, Goods and drugs worth more than N300 million naira were lost to an early morning fire which occurred at Ijomu area of Akure, the Ondo State capital on Sunday.
The fire affected no fewer than 10 entrepreneurs whose shops and medicine store were located in the area.
Alhaji is the owner of Choices Medicine and Supermarket Stores at No. 20 Ijomu Street, Akure, Akure South Local Government Area of the state, was said to have just off loaded two trucks load of drugs into his two stores in the same complex on Saturday night.
Other occupants of the complex are dealers, fashion designers, electrical and electronics dealers.
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Mrs. Modupe Daramola, a fashion designer in the complex, lost three industrial sewing and embroidery machines and four sewing machines to the fire.
She disclosed that she also lost a heavy duty power generating set and a refrigerator to the inferno besides several fabrics belonging to her numerous customers.
FILE PHOTO
Metro3 days ago
