Property worth several millions of Naira have been destroyed as a tanker loaded with substance suspected to be diesel exploded along Aba –Owerri road, in Aba, Abia State.
The inferno lasted over an hour till it was eventually extinguished by the men of the Abia State Fire Service from Aba and Umuahia zones.
NigeriaCrime.com gathered that when the inferno was quenched, office equipment at the business centres within the Umungasi post office was destroyed with owners crying beyond consolation.
Speaking on the incident, the Chief Officer of Abia State Fire Service, Mr Arua who blamed the cause of the inferno on the high weather condition, described the incident as avoidable.
He explained that they have warned fuel station owners to always discharge their products when the intensity is not high.
According to Arua, “I got a distress call in Umuahia that there’s a fuel tanker fire in Aba so I had to send two trucks from our Aba station at Constitution Crescent and by the time I got the second call, it was an assistance message from Aba because of the intensity of the fire so I pushed the trucks in Umuahia down to Aba to ensure that everywhere was put under control. Four trucks are working here, two from Aba and two from Umuahia.
On the possible cause of the fire, Nnanna said, “You can see the tanker on fire because they were offloading and we’ve always told them when you’re doing offloading, do it in the morning not in the afternoon when the intensity is very high. Or they do it at night and they must make sure all the necessary safety materials are available.
“Look at the entire area I could spot any single fire extinguisher for safety. Most of these things are out of carelessness or accident. He thanked residents and other security agencies for their cooperation,” he said.
Nnanna also described the firefighting as one of the most laudable ones his men have taken part in and thanked residents and other agencies for their cooperation.
Also speaking, Engineer Belenta Belenta, the Commander of Abia State Fire Service, Aba Command said that the intensity of the fire was so high that he had to seek assistance from Umuahia.
“We got the information and rushed immediately with his men. The tanker was discharging and that discharge resulted in a fire outbreak. The tanker was loaded with PMS with 33,000 litres.
“We battled the fire with the assistance of our station in Umuahia. It was possible with the type of chemical we had. We’re appealing to the government to come to the fire service to see what we need and we’ll continue to serve better.
“If not that we have capable men who can manage in the situation available, we couldn’t have done much because we do not have enough equipment for this type of fire.”
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who visited the scene of the incident said that he came to have on the spot assessment of the situation.
Ikpeazu who stated that he was yet to be briefed on the cause of the fire cautioned people to avoid going close to petroleum products with materials that can trigger fire, including switching off their electrical appliances when leaving the house to avoid a spark as the dry season was prone to fire incident.
The Governor stated that the state government would be embarking on advocacy and media campaigns to ensure that there won’t be a repeat of such incidents.