FIRE GUTS EDA PLAZA IN ABUJA, DESTROYS GOODS WORTH MILLIONS OF NAIRA

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Agency Report

A fire outbreak in the early hours of Sunday destroyed several shops and goods reportedly worth millions of naira at Eda Plaza, a building materials market opposite Chida Hotel in Jabi, Abuja.

The blaze, which was reported at about 3am, attracted shop owners and emergency responders as traders rushed to the scene in an attempt to salvage their goods.

An eyewitness said his brother-in-law, who operates two shops and a packing store in the plaza, received a distress call from a colleague informing him that the market was on fire.

According to him, the fire had spread extensively before they arrived, destroying one of the two shops and the packing store.

“In this plaza, my brother-in-law had two shops and a packing store. Unfortunately, only one of the shops was saved. The other shop and the packing store were totally damaged by the fire,” he said.

The eyewitness estimated the value of roofing materials destroyed in the affected shops at more than N20m, noting that some of the materials had been restocked only the previous night.

“Over here, you see some of the roofs that we still have here. We are talking about a roof that is worth over N20 million lost in this fire,” he said.

Despite the extent of the destruction, no casualty was reported in the incident.

The eyewitness said the absence of fatalities provided some consolation to affected traders despite the significant financial losses.

Meanwhile, the head of the Julius Berger firefighting team that responded to the incident said the fire was eventually brought under control after about four hours.

He said the team deployed two fire engines, two water tankers and eight firefighters to assist in containing the blaze, alongside personnel from the Federal Fire Service.

“We were called by a quarter to 4:00 in the morning, helping out to extinguish the fire,” he said.

He urged members of the public to prioritise their safety during fire emergencies by evacuating affected buildings and allowing firefighters to operate without interference.

“In case of fire, evacuate the building and don’t disturb the firefighters doing their job,” he said.

Efforts to obtain a reaction from the Federal Capital Territory Fire Service were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

The cause of the fire was also not immediately established.