A fire incident gutted a two-storey building housing 25 shops and 44 rooms in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Saturday.
The blaze broke out around 1:10 PM at the Alhaji Haruna Kannike Shopping Complex in Ipata Market, Ilorin. The Kwara State Fire Service spokesman, Hassan Adekunle, confirmed the incident in a statement, noting that firefighters responded swiftly to a distress call.
A fire truck and crew were dispatched to the scene, where they found the fire had already engulfed several rooms on the upper floor. Despite the intensity of the blaze, the firefighters managed to contain and extinguish it, preventing it from spreading further.
“Out of 44 rooms in the building, 22 were affected, while the remaining 22 rooms and all 25 shops were successfully saved,” the statement read.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the area had experienced a prolonged power outage lasting nearly five days. The fire reportedly started after electricity was restored, leading to a power surge that ignited the upper floor.
Personnel from the Federal Fire Service collaborated with the state fire team to extinguish the blaze, showcasing strong inter-agency coordination.
The Director of the Kwara State Fire Service, Prince Falade John, advised the public to unplug electrical appliances during power outages and emphasized the need for adopting fire safety measures to prevent similar incidents.
