An early morning inferno on Wednesday left six vehicles, including a 33,000 litre-fuel tanker, completely burnt at the Mobil Filling Station on Oba Akran Road, Ikeja, when the tanker fell on its side as it was about to enter the station to discharge petrol, an eye witness told our correspondent.
The fire hich started at about 6.00 a.m. according to the eye witness account, spread across the busy Oba Akran Road as the tanker spilled its content and it took the timely intervention of fire servicemen from Alausa to stop the fire from spreading to other areas.
Similarly, Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, told journalists that his office received an emergency call from the public at about 6.20 a.m but said that before the call, his men had noticed a thick smoke billowing into the sky from the direction of the fire.
“When we got the call informing us that the fire was in a filling station, I then ordered four more trucks of 10,000 litres each of chemical fume. It took us about two hours to put out the fire with other emergency agencies around.
“No life was lost, one person sustained injuries and was taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja for treatment. The fuel tanker and five other cars were completely burnt. Other things burnt include a transformer, supplying electricity to the area, electric pole, cables and the roof of the filling station.’’
He said that information made available to his officers showed that the fire incident happened when the tanker attempted to maneouvre its way into the station without crashing into vehicles queuing to buy petrol.
“We learnt the tanker stepped on an object that lifted it sideways and there was a spillage of its contents, resulting to fire explosion. The fire followed the spilled products across the road,’’ he said.
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