Man Loses His Property to Fire

A Man on Tuesday lost his property when fire razed his self-contained apartment in a two-storey building on Ayinke Street, Bariga, Lagos.

The man, who gave his name simply as Charles, said the fire was caused by a surge when electricity was restored.

He said he was at work when he learnt of the incident. The fire, he said, spread to his neighbour’s apartment.

According to him, ‘area’ boys, many of whom he is friendly with, saved the building from being razed by the fire.

He said: “I was unable to remove anything from the house. The only thing I have on is what I’m wearing; nothing else. Even my wife and baby have nothing to fall back to. All the property was burnt. I just came back from work and met fire service men on ground.

“But since I came back from work, I didn’t do anything. Those guys have been the ones helping me to evacuate the wreckage. Normally I usually buy them drinks, greet them when I’m going out, pay their bills at bar…. Some of them would even call me when they need one thing or the other but I’ll give whatever I have; sometimes N2,000. But some people thought it was stupid. Now see what happened today.”

One of the ‘area’ boys, Suleiman said the man is generous to him and others, adding: “The moment I heard a building was on fire on our street, I quickly returned home to know where it was. On getting here, I saw that it was our Chairman’s apartment. So everybody quickly rushed there with others to help. The fire could have razed the building,” he said.

Lagos State Fire Service Director Rasaq Fadipe said they received a distress call around 3:48pm.

Fadipe said the ‘area’ boys initially prevented them from doing their job, until some persons appealed to them.

“The building has six rooms on each floor, but we were able to put out the fire”, he said.