Goods destroyed as fire guts 70 shops in Lagos

Goods worth millions of naira were on Tuesday destroyed when fire gutted the Alade Market in the Somolu area of Lagos State.

It was gathered that the fire, which started around 1am, was caused by a power surge.

It was learnt that the fire destroyed 70 lock-up shops.

The Acting Head of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, said the agency received a call to the incident around 12.55am.

While confirming that 70 shops were burnt, she said 101 shops were salvaged.

She said, “The affected shops, which had various items including food, gas cylinders and other perishable goods, were damaged by the inferno. While the actual cause of the incident is still being investigated, we suspect that the spread of the fire was aided by cylinders in one of the gas shops.”

The Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, urged residents to “always switch off their appliances that are not in use to prevent voltage surges.”