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Raphael Ede, Enugu
An inferno has razed down parts of popular Timber market, Kenyatta, Enugu state, destroying goods, shops and machines worth more than N2 billion.
It was gathered that the fire started after the close of work, around 7pm on Friday and raged into the midnight despite the intervention of the State Fire Service.
More than 300 shops and 150 machines of different sizes were destroyed completely.
The early arrival of the men of the fire service however prevented the entire market being consumed by the inferno.
State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the State Emergency Management Agency, were on ground around 9pm to coordinate activities of the fire fighters.
As at 12:30pm on Saturday when Sunday Sun visited the scene, men of the state fire service were still battling to quench the fire to avoid being rekindled by the wind.
Shop owners and sympathizers were seen in clusters discussing the tragic development while the younger ones among them were sifting through the debris to salvage any item of value and others assisting the fire fighters.
One of the fire fighters, Mr. Ogbonna Onyekachukwu, who spoke to Sunday Sun said the cause of the fire cannot be immediately ascertained, but said it have been electrical spark.
He said arson was unlikely given that the timber traders had a good network of internal security within the market.
The fireman said the the State Fire Service was already on ground when the fire started as they have a unit within the market.
“We were already on ground, we have a post here. When the fire stared and we saw the magnitude we alerted the state headquarters, the government house and other units.
“Enugu Fire Service has enough fire fighting trucks, what we require is more personnel, we don’t have enough man power like drivers etc,” he said.
A trader who gave his name as Onaga Odo estimated the damage to be over two billion naira (N2 billion).
Sunday Sun reports that the affected lines in the market were Lines 2, 3, and 4 with assorted machines including a giant spindle, sharpening machines, and several generating sets completely burned down.
