Goods Worth Millions Destroyed As Fire Wrecks Shops In Abia

Several goods said to be worth millions of naira have been destroyed in a fire in Umuahia, the state capital.

The incident, which happened at Cameroun Street by Owerri Road, near the Isi Gate Market, affected 10 lockup shops stocked with cosmetics, food stuffs; garri, beans, and cereals, among other consumables.

It was gathered that owners of the other shops that managed to save their goods from the inferno, lost them to hoodlums who pretended to have come to assist the shop owners to save their goods.

The cause of the  incident is yet to be ascertained.

In a telephone interview, the Controller/Chief Fire Officer, Abia State Fire Service, Mr Arua Nnanna, confirmed the fire, but lamented that the damage the shop owners suffered was because of their inability to inform the fire service when it was already late.

Nnanna added that the agency upon arrival, confined the fire within the already affected block of shops to avoid it from escalating to other shops and buildings around.

According to him, the agency was able to save over ₦100million property from being affected that was already charged at the time that they arrived at the scene.

He called on residents to be safety conscious by keeping fire extinguishers in their shops and homes in case of fire, adding that the fire could have been contained if the shop owners had fire extinguishers.