Property worth several millions of naira have been destroyed by a dawn fire outbreak at the popular Roky Fella Night Club in Udoji Street, Kpirikpiri Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Some of the items destroyed in the inferno are refrigerators, television sets, air conditioners, other electronic gadgets, musical equipment, chairs, tables, assorted drinks and others.
The fire incident which was said to have started at about 5:30am lasted for over one hour before the intervention of the Ebonyi State Fire Service that arrived the scene and was able to put off the fire.
An eyewitness, Mr Uche Ogbodo who spoke to LEADERSHIP, attributed the fire outbreak to power surge adding that staff of the club house who were still sleeping inside the building before the incident all came out unhurt but expressed regret that all the facilities in the night club were burnt down.
“To the best of my knowledge, the incident could be as a result of power surge because the club had closed early this morning at about 4:30am and the outbreak started around 5:30am.
“At about that 5:45am, we observed thick fire and smoke coming out from the night club and alerted other neighbors who called on the attention of fire service men who helped to control the fire from extending to other buildings.
“The incident caused serious panic and tension within the area following the late arrival of the Fire Service men. Residents resorted to self-help by fetching water from a nearby borehole and mixing it with detergent to quench the fire but the fire was uncontrollable.
“But I must commend the firemen because their arrival though not so early saved the situation because a lot of houses within the area would have been affected. They came and came prepared. They came with three tanker load of water and there was no excuse of shortage of water,” he said.
In an interview with LEADERSHIP, the manager of the night club, Mr. Chidi Chukwuemeka said that the staff of the club called him at about 6am that fire outbreak gutted the club house and he had to rush to the place adding that on getting there, the entire building has been razed down.
A shop owner, a make-up artist who spoke to LEADERSHIP on grounds of anonymity said that goods, equipment and properties destroyed in her shop is worth over five million naira and expressed shock over the incident.
Some of the staff of the club who were seen weeping uncontrollably expressed regret that many of them have been thrown out of job adding that with the facility burnt down, their source of livelihood has been destroyed by the inferno and appealed to government for assistance.
The chief fire officer, Ebonyi State, Mr Raphael Ibiam, said they got a destress call at about 6:30 am and on arriving at the scene, a lot of damage had been caused by the fire.
“We weren’t called on time and I immediately mobilise and we went to the scene, unfortunately, the fire has burnt down the entire club house. We did our best to prevent the fire from extending to other nearby houses,” he said.
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