SOME shops at the Balogun market in Lagos State have been gutted by a midnight fire which began in the early hours of Thursday, January 26.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed this in a statement.
LASEMA Permanent Secretary Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu who released the statement said the cause of the fire had not yet been ascertained. He also noted that there were no fatalities recorded as a result of the incident.
“The agency responded to distress calls concerning the fire. Upon arrival at the scene operatives encountered a fire involving some shops on the ground floor of a three-storey building.
“The cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained. Fortunately no casualty was involved in the incident. The agency’s response team alongside two Lagos State Fire Service trucks, and the police are currently at the incident working together to subdue the inferno,” he said.
In October 2022, a section of the market went up in flames leaving several shops and goods destroyed.
In December 2021, another midnight fire razed several shops in the market.
Some traders had stocked up on goods worth millions of naira before the incident occurred.
Similar fire incidents occurred in 2020 and 2019.
One person died in the fire incident of 2020.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.