Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
Traders at the Balogun Market, in Lagos Island are now counting loses after fire razed six buildings in the market on monday.
Officials of the state and federal fire service and other agencies deployed to the scene had frenzied task gaining access to the building to put out the fire.
About 100 shops were said to be affected by the fire in the newly built Balogun Market .
An eye witness said “ Not less than 100 shops were affected by the fire. Look at those buildings, six of them were affected. The least among them is three storey building which are four while the rest two are 5 storey building.”
The traders said several shops and warehouses are located in those buildings and are fully stocked with assorted materials like clothes, shoes, electronics among other items.
Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe said the fire started around 4.00pm and that six buildings were involved. Six fire tankers were deployed to fight the fire he said but could not confirm the cause of the fire.
Fadipe lamented that the presence of large crowd is affecting the fire operation, saying that the fire has affected several shops in the buildings.
He said fire trucks from Sari Iganmu, Isolo, Ilupeju and Alausa battled the fire which he said was intense.
Also speaking on the incident General Manager, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said the fire started around 4.00am and the agency and others were on ground to put out the fire to stop it from spreading to adjourning buildings.