Two buildings were razed in a fire incident along Lower Erejuwa Road by Ope Junction, Warri, Delta State. The fire occurred after power was restored by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) following a three-day outage. The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical surge when power was restored.
The Delta State Fire Fighters responded promptly but were unable to combat the fire due to a mechanical fault with their truck’s water pumping mechanism. According to M.K. Igbinoba, the head of the Delta State Fire Station in Warri, the fire truck developed equipment failure, forcing them to retreat without tackling the blaze. The fire resulted in significant losses, estimated at over N300 million. Several residents lost their properties, and some business owners saw their means of livelihood go up in flames.
“The fire fighters left and did not come back till the time of the media interaction. In the past, fire fighters who have such a challenge reached out to other sister fire stations in SPDC, NPA and NNPC, but the Delta State government fire fighters did not do.
Fire services are essential and that they should be efficient in order to minimize the effects of such fire disasters” Paul Obire, An elderly Landlord lamented.
The incident was compounded by looting, with vandals taking advantage of the situation to steal goods and properties worth millions of naira.
A delegation led by Chief Ambassador Michael Ezeh, a member of the Delta State Peace Building And Advisory Council, visited the site and sympathized with the victims, promising to relay their plight to Governor Oborevwori for assistance.
