There was panic among shoppers and visitors to Ikeja
City Mall on Tuesday as fire gutted Mr. Price, a boutique located within
the mall.
Other shops in the mall, such as Shoprite, Bedmates
and KFC immediately shut down while shoppers were evacuated from the
building.
It was learnt that the fire at Mr. Price was caused by an electrical surge, which later spread throughout the clothing shop.
Witnesses told our correspondent that the fire started around 11am.
One of them, Doyin Adewale, said, “I was looking at a
T-shirt when I heard sound of explosion. Before long, there was smoke
everywhere, and we had to rush out.”
A shopper, Eno Harrison, said many people in the mall did not know what was happening at the time until a fire alarm went off.
“I just got to the mall and people started to run
helter-skelter. I did not see any smoke and I was really confused
because I had no idea what was happening. But a fire alarm went off and
we were all told to move out. They said a store was on fire,” she said.
The operation manager of the mall, Mr. Steve Idornigie, said the surge was due to a partial contact from a power point.
He said, “At about 11:15am, the store manager on Mr.
Price reported the incident to me and emergency staff responded
immediately.
“In terms of damage, no goods were lost neither was
anyone injured. However some clothes got wet as a result of the water
used in containing the fire.
Idornigie said customers and shop owners would be admitted for business by 3pm.
The Director of the state fire service, Mr. Fadipe
Idowu, said the electrical surge ignited all the bulbs in the shop
resulting in the fire.
When our correspondent left the mall around 3pm, it
was observed that shop owners were gradually being admitted into the
building.
However, workers and other shoppers were denied entry.
The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the fire was put out
before it could cause much damage by a combined team of the state fire
service and his agency.
“The fire was apparently caused by power surge.
Luckily there was no loss of lives and the fire was not allowed to
spread. It would have been disastrous for the mall as a whole,”
Oke-Osanyintolu said.
The incident is an addition to the numerous fire incidents that have occurred in the state in the last one month.
The LASEMA boss said the incessant fire incidents in
the state had to do with the dry season, adding that the harmattan wind
made it easy for a small fire to escalate.
He called on residents of the state to call the
state’s emergency numbers -767 and 112 – in case of any fire outbreak in
their neighbourhoods.
PUNCH
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