No fewer than nine tankers loaded with diesel were yesterday razed down by fire at a trailer park located along Apple junction/Ijesha road, opposite Interland Transport Limited, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos State.
For several hours, thick cloud of smoke enveloped Amuwo Odofin area of the state. Sympathizers gathered watching helplessly as the fire razed the tankers one after the other. No casualty was recorded. It took the joint effort of the Lagos State Fire Service and the Julius Berger Construction Company to put the inferno under control.
At exactly 4:15 pm when Sunday Sun got to the scene of the incident, men of the state fire service were seeing battling with the raging fire. Reinforcement later came from Julius Berger with two additional tankers to prevent the fire from getting out of control. No fewer than eight tankers were totally burnt beyond repair, while combined teams of the two operatives battled endlessly to put out the residual fire raging in one of the tankers.
The exact cause of the sudden fire outbreak could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report. Sunday Sun, however, gathered that the fire started at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. An eye witness account said the inferno initially started with one of the tankers and quickly spread to others in quick succession.
None of the workers working at the trailer park was available to speak with the press. Although the park housing several tankers with F&B Petroleum Limited logo looks like a mechanic workshop, there are suspicions that the cause of the fire outbreak might not be unconnected with illegal loading and transfer of petroleum products by unidentified dealers.
Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Idowu Fadipe, who spoke with Sunday Sun on phone, said the park was an illegal site being used for loading and transfer of petroleum products. His words, “the place looks like a mechanic workshop but it is a local depot used for transferring of fuel. They are only using it as a camouflage. I expected the people in that area to have reported them to Lagos State Government.”
He said the quick intervention of his men mobilized from Isolo, Sari Iganmu and Ojo Fire Service stations combined with Julius Berger averted the disaster that would have resulted from the inferno. “Emergency situation is not handled by one hand. It takes collaborative efforts to deal with situation like this,” he added.
He confirmed that nine tankers were involved in the inferno but the effort of the fire service men prevented further damage to life and property. Men of the Nigeria Police were also on hand to provide security at the scene.
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