Fire razes farmers market, destroy huge property
By Bisola Adeyemo
About eight shops and goods worth millions of naira have been burnt as a result of a fire incident that occurred at Sabo Market, the biggest farmers’ market in Oyo town.
Daily post reports that the fire, which started around 10 pm on Tuesday, destroyed some shops and property.
Firefighters from the Oyo State fire service were called immediately after the fire started, but some shops and property have been pulled down by the fire before their arrival.
Confirming the incident on Wednesday morning, The Chief Fire Officer in Oyo State, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi, said eight shops were gutted by the fire as he attributed the cause of the fire incident to a nearby dumpsite.
“Yes. Yes. It is true. We were called around 30 minutes to 11pm. We went to the scene of the incident. You know our office is very close to Sabo.
“Immediately they got there, they discovered that some shops were still intact and they tried as much as possible to cut the spread.
“About eight shops were affected. And what were discovered in those shops were Cocoa, cashew nuts and some baskets. Those are the major things.
“So, it was only eight shops that were affected. Let us now go to the main cause, the people there, having known that they have property worth millions of naira, they also have a dumpsite, they burnt it and left.They set it ablaze but did not wait to monitor it. These are some of the mistakes that our people make.
“I believe that there should be a distance between your shop and dump site; they set the dump site ablaze and went home. It was the fire from the dump site that spread to those shops,” he disclosed.