At least four shops were destroyed in an early morning fire outbreak on Friday at Saki Garage, opposite Trans Amusement Park in the Bodija area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
The incident, which started around 2:07 a.m., affected four out of eleven shops in the vicinity, with properties worth millions of naira reportedly lost. No lives were lost in the inferno.
Confirming the incident, the Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Service, Hon. Maroof Akinwande, said firefighters quickly responded to the distress call and prevented the fire from spreading to nearby shops and buildings.
He explained that preliminary findings traced the cause of the fire to lit embers left unattended after business hours, which ignited nearby combustibles.
“I advise the public to be conscious of fire and to always have our emergency numbers saved on their phones. Every household should also install fire extinguishers to stay safe from imminent fire incidents,” Akinwande said in a statement.
The fire service chief further commended officers of the Amotekun Corps, Bodija Division, for providing security cover during the operation. He urged residents to report fire incidents promptly and give accurate addresses when reaching out for help, sharing the agency’s emergency numbers: 08067439223, 08054353501, or 615.