A devastating fire broke out on Friday night at Olusola Saraki Market in the Ita-Amo area of Ilorin West Local Government Area, Kwara State.

It caused extensive damage to goods estimated at several million of Naira.

Kwara State Fire Service stated that the fire destroyed various items, including clothing materials, provisions, soft drinks, and meat. In total, seven shops were gutted by the fire, out of the 269 shops in the market.

The fire service, in a statement issued on Saturday and signed by the Principal Fire Officer and Head of Media and Publicity, Hassan Adekunle, stated that the incident was triggered by a power surge due to fluctuating electricity supply from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company , IBEDC.

The surge reportedly ignited the blaze, which quickly spread across the market.

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The fire service received the distress call at 21:36 hours on Friday, 10 January 2025. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters found several shops ablaze but were able to contain the fire and limit the destruction to only seven shops, saving the remaining 269 businesses.

The affected shops included those selling meat, clothing materials, and provisions.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the fire was caused by the power surge resulting from the unstable power supply in the area, as reported by the market’s security personnel.

Kwara State Fire Service Director, Prince Falade John, expressed his sympathies to the market leadership and the affected shop owners.

He also extended his condolences to the entire market community.

Falade encouraged traders to adopt fire safety measures to prevent similar incidents in the future and expressed hope that the traders would recover their losses and thrive again.

Crediblenewsng.com