Kerosene explosion razes building in Bayelsa

A residential building was razed by fire in
the early hours of Saturday on Arietalin
Street, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

The cause of the inferno could not be
immediately ascertained but sources
alleged kerosene explosion triggered the
fire.

A resident in the area, who gave his name
only as Peretu, said a kerosene stove
exploded and ignited the fire.
Peretu said, “We just saw fire coming
from the kitchen of one of the houses.
Maybe one of the people living in the
house abandoned his cooking and went
out.

“Before we knew what was happening, the
fire was all over the place and we decided
to call the state fire fighters. Household
items and documents were burnt. We
couldn’t get a thing from the house.|”

Another victim, whose apartment was
gutted by the fire, said she was not aware
of the cause of the fire.
The victim who identified himself as
Frankie said,”I actually don’t know the
cause of the fire because I just got back
from night duty.

“I was busy writing something when all of
a sudden, my wife called me that there
was fire at my next door neighbour’s
apartment. When I ran out, there was
smoke inside the room and there was
nobody there.

“The fire gutted my apartment and burnt
all my documents; school certificates, my
clothes. I didn’t recover anything from
the fire.”
Fire fighters from the Bayelsa State Fire
Service intervened to stop the fire from
spreading to other buildings in the
congested neighbourhood.

The fire fighters successfully brought the
fire under control but after it had razed
the building.
One of the fire fighters, High
Superintendent Jonathan said the cause of
the fire had not been ascertained.

“We were able to extinguish the fire with
the help of the people around because of
lack of personnel we have,” Jonathan said.