Calabar Residents Attack Firefighters Over Delayed Response To Inferno

An angry crowd from the Goldie community in Calabar, the Cross State capital, has pelted firefighters with stones for arriving late to the scene of a fire outbreak.

The inferno occurred at Goldie Street, near Bedwell Street in Calabar.

One of the residents, Mr Ugockwu Eze, who frowned at the incident, lamented that firefighters failed to show up when they were alerted about the outbreak.

“They only showed up when the fire had destroyed goods estimated at N100 million, which included three houses and several shops,” he said.

According to him, the fire broke out while the owners were in the church on Sunday, which affected mattresses and other goods.

Another eyewitness, Akpan Bassey, who attempted to justify the attack on the crew, lamented that the University of Calabar Fire Service, the Federal Fire Service and the Cross River State Fire Service were called shortly after the flames were noticed, but received no prompt response.

“When a dilapidated fire truck finally showed up, the angry and frustrated residents pelted the crew with stones, water sachets and other objects, forcing them to retreat,” he said.

One of the victims of the incident, Mr. Wilson Akpan, who tried to save his mattress shop from being burnt, described the inferno as tragic and blamed the state’s poor firefighting infrastructure for the heavy losses. He said such failures and delays have repeatedly led to avoidable loss of life and property.

Reacting to the issue, the Cross River State Director of Fire Service, Mr Denise Ajom, debunked the allegations that the fire crew did not respond promptly to salvage the situation.

“I get shocked when I hear people say our men didn’t show up on time and they have to be stoned. Did they consider the time we were called?

“We don’t have the technology to know when and where there is a fire outbreak. We wanted a security backup from the police before swinging into action. That area is very volatile,” he said.