The Imo incident involved the popular Alaba International Market located on the Owerri-Aba Road in Owerri; a filling station was gutted by fire in Nnewi, Anambra while a store in Coleman Wires and Cables at Arepo, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was destroyed on Friday.
While some workers used fire extinguishers, others fetched water within the premises to douse the fire as there was no response from the Ogun State Fire Service. Apart from the items in the store, the fire also destroyed the windows and the store’s roofs but was prevented from spreading to adjoining offices.
A senior official of the company, who identified himself only as Ilori, told our correspondent that normalcy had returned. An eyewitness, Val Okonkwo, said, “A big truck was transferring diesel to a smaller truck at the filling station. The hose they were using to do the transfer pulled out and the diesel spread to a running generator which started the fire.