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By Iheanyi Chukwudi
It was a double tragedy in Enugu on Wednesday as the fire that gutted and destroyed about 40 shops at the Enugu Motor Spare Parts Market, Tinker Coal Camp, also claimed the life of one of the firefighters from Enugu State Fire Service.
The inferno which destroyed goods worth several millions of naira, took the life of the watch officer of the State Fire Service, Engr. Chigozie Ugwu, who slumped and died after they had successfully put off the fire.
Eyewitnesses said the fire started at the wee hours of Wednesday in a shop and escalated into the next shop, a restaurant that unfortunately had a gas cylinder inside it and it got exploded, spreading the fire to several shops.
Confirming the incident, the Chief Fire Officer of the Enugu State Fire and Emergency Service, Engr. Okwudili Ohaa, said that his men arrived at about 1.15 am, and were able to control the fire with about three fire trucks.
Ohaa stated however that they lost one of his dedicated staff, Engr. Chigozie Ugwu the to the inferno after he had worked hard to put off the fire.
The Fire Chief said, “He was a dedicated officer, who loved to lead by example. He was my best fire officer. He was not actually supposed to come to work because he was still recuperating from an illness but due to his passion for the job, he decided to join the team.
“We have been able to quench the outbreak that took us more than two hours. It was a huge one."
Narrating what happened, the President, Enugu Motor Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mike Nome, said the fire started in the wee hours of Wednesday from a shop.
He said, “I got a call from one of our security men around midnight that our market was on fire. Our security men promptly rushed to stop it when they noticed the fire. But when they got to the shop, they noticed that it was further locked with burglary proof.
“As they were battling to break into the shop, the fire escalated into the next shop which operated restaurant and immediately a gas cylinder inside the restaurant got exploded, thereby spreading the fire to several shops.
“When the fire went beyond us, I called the state fire service around 1.00am and they promptly came in less than 15 minutes to stop the fire from spreading to other areas."
Nome disclosed that no fewer than 40 traders had their shops totally burnt and destroyed in the inferno.
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