The Lagos State office of the Nigerian Breweries Plc was in the early hours of Sunday gutted by fire which completely razed a large number of crates, containing empty and filled bottles of drinks, as well as two containers.
Although the main fire had been brought under control, emergency officials were still battling with pockets of fire on the company’s premises as of 5pm when this report was filed.
Our correspondent learnt that the fire, whose cause had yet to be ascertained, covered acres of land, where goods were kept.
The Lagos State Fire Service Director, Rasaq Fadipe, said the fire was prevented from spreading to a filling station and tank farms on the premises.
He said, “The fire covered about four acres of land. It is an open space where both full and empty cartons are kept. The fire was very massive because bottles are petrochemical products, which are very difficult to battle. Seven fire trucks were deployed from the state fire service and complemented with Julius Berger’s three fire trucks.
“There are still pockets of fire here are there and we are trying to remove cartons that have not been affected. The fire service station at Sari Iganmu saw smokes billowing and traced it to the company. They didn’t call us.”
Fadipe urged property owners to always alert the fire service to any fire outbreak irrespective of its enormity.
The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Adesina Tiamiyu, said the pallet section of the brewery was also affected. “No casualty was recorded in the incident, but a large number of goods were destroyed,” he added.
The Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kufre Ekanem, in a statement on Sunday stated that only empty bottles and plastic crates were affected, adding that the incident did not disrupt the company’s operation.
“There was a fire outbreak today at the empty bottle compound of the Lagos plant of the Nigerian Breweries Plc in Iganmu, Lagos. The fire, which started early in the morning, has been put under control by men of the Lagos State Fire Service supported by the Nigerian Brewery fire team and other nearby corporate organisations,” the statement read in part.
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