The Central Bank of Nigeria building at Marina, Lagos State, on Tuesday evening, went up in flames, creating panic among residents who fled the area for dear lives.
Although the cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained as of press time, eyewitnesses said they began seeing smokes emanating from the first floor around 5.10pm.
“Around that time, I saw the heavy smoke billowing out from the complex. The fire is spreading fast to other parts of the five storey building. I cannot say what exactly caused it, but there are firemen already at the scene,” said an eyewitness who would want his identity concealed.
Our correspondent report that the incident created traffic snarl around the area as fire service men and other rescue agencies fight hard to break into the scene and put off the fire.
However, men of the Lagos State Fire Service, who arrived earlier, were seen battling the flame around 6pm.
The Director and Head of the Lagos State Fire Service, Razak Fadipe, told our correspondent that he was informed of the fire around 5.45pm.
“We received a distress call around 5.45pm. We deployed a 10,000 litre fire truck from the Onikan Fire Station to the scene and another 10, 000 litres truck from Sari Iganmu, including the area ladder.
“The fire involved a five storey building belonging to the CBN. The fire is on the third floor, which is divided into two wings. The fire only affected one of the wings,” Fadipe said.
Firemen from the federal fire service, UBA and Union Bank were also at the scene while the Spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, South-West zone, Ibrahim Farinloye said no one was trapped or injured in the incident.
“We are currently breaking into the smaller offices to contain the spread,” he added.
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