A fire incident in the early hours of Monday destroyed several shops and stores at Singa Market in Kano, causing significant losses before it was eventually contained by the Kano State Fire Service.
According to a statement on Tuesday by the Service’s Public Relations Officer, ACFO Saminu Yusif Abdullahi, the agency received a distress call around 5a.m. from one Mubarak Muhammad, who reported the outbreak at the popular market.
“Kano State Fire Service, led by the Director, Alh. Sani Anas, received a call for emergency assistance from Mubarak Muhammad, who informed the central control room that there was an emergency call at Singa Market at about 05:00 a.m. Our men from various fire stations within Kano metropolitan rushed to the scene of incident,” Abdullahi revealed.
He added that on arrival, firefighters found a one-storey building, identified as Alh. Abdulmunafi Yunusa House already engulfed in flames. The statement stressed that the structure, measuring about 150 by 150 feet, had several shops attached to it.
“The fire destroyed 25 temporary shops attached in front of the house and 19 stores from the upper floor. Our officers managed to contain the fire without damaging 24 stores from the upper floor, and we saved all the stores at the ground floor of the building,” he said.
Abdullahi further noted that the firemen, however, encountered difficulties accessing the scene due to obstruction from parked trailers.
Preliminary investigation by the Fire Service suggested that the inferno was triggered by an electrical fault.
“We met with the head of the house, Ambassador Garba Ibrahim Mai Maggie, and one of the security personnel, Malam Ibrahim, who told us that they have one single electric switch for the whole house. Therefore, based on our extensive investigation, we discovered that the electric switch was not properly used, which is why we suspected a fault from the electrical wiring caused the fire incident,” the statement partly read.
ACFO Abdullahi however assured that no casualties were reported from the incident.
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