Deborah Akinyosoye
A filling station in Awka was on Friday razed by fire while discharging petroleum products, destroying property worth over N100 million, the Anambra State Fire Chief, Mr Chukwudi Chiketa, confirms.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the station known as Okeb Filling Station is located on the Awka axis of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.
Chiketa told NAN that the service was not alerted when the fire started in the filling station around 2pm.
According to him, it is unfortunate that the people did not alert the office earlier enough to make greater save from the inferno.
He said that by estimated value, over N100 million was lost to the inferno and regretted that reasonable saves could have been made if the fire service was earlier contacted.
Chiketa said that the incident was regrettable and could have been avoided if the discharge was done at night and urged petrol station operators to inculcate the habit of discharging their product at night.
He also urged owners of gas stations to always keep safety fire equipment such as industrial fire extinguishers beside sand buckets and making their work place to be spacious and accessible in case of emergencies.
He said that over six petrol pump stands, the truck conveying the product and three other utility vehicles were razed in the fire.
The state fire chief appealed to the public to call his personal phone number 080 69654255 for quicker assistance in addition to the emergency phone line in time of need.
Reacting to the incident, Mr Okechukwu Ebele, owner of the filling station and Chief Executive Officer, Okeb Filling Station in Amawbia said that though he lost a lot to the incident, he remained grateful to God for safety of lives of his workers present at the time of the incident.
Meanwhile, an eye witness, Mr Uche Ifeleoma, an artisan at the scene of the event, said that a truck arrived at the station with a Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to discharge but the services of an electrical person was needed before the discharge was done.
He said that the service of an electrical person was engaged but unfortunately while working on the truck an electrical spark occurred and it ignited the fire and before any control could happen, the fire overwhelmed the people on site.
“We made frantic efforts to contact the state fire services attention through the emergency phone line when it was obvious that the sand buckets were not going to be useful but the phone lines were not going through.
“I did not know how the state fire service heard and they arrived at the scene about 2:40pm and luckily the restaurant building was saved and some small parts of the complex,” he narrated.
NAN reports that the Okeb filling station consists of a PMS, DPK, AGO, Mini Mart, Lubricant, Restaurant amongst other sections.