Property and goods worth millions of naira, including cartons of batteries, candles, hand sanitisers, nails, face masks and others were burnt yesterday evening at the Iddo Terminal of the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
The fire incident, which started on Sunday, was said to be a result of power surge following the restoration of electricity.
Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and Fire Service were still at the scene battling to put out the fire.
It was gathered that the two agencies mobilised to the scene of the fire incident almost immediately it received distressed calls. However, the fire was yet to be put out when The Guardian left the scene around 3.p.m. yesterday.
At a section of the fire scene, efforts were made to rescue some of the items stored in one of the warehouses.
At the opposite end of the warehouse where rescue operation was ongoing were scavengers and residents picking and scavenging anything insight for personal use and trading. While some were picking burnt metals, roof sheet and irons, others were scavenging face masks, hand sanitisers, water bottles and bags.
LASEMA said the incident, which was transmitted to their control room at 6:35 p.m. on February 14, 2021, broke out from shanties behind the warehouse at the NRC, owned by Iddo Rail Terminus due to power surge when the public power supply was restored.
The CEO of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu said: “The agency activated its response team to the scene to discover the fire was caused by a power surge when electricity was restored.
“While there appears to be no loss of life, the agency is working alongside the Lagos and Federal Fire services to control and curtail the spread of the flames,” he said.
