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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Mid afternoon fire yesterday gutted three hostel blocks of the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Old Umuahia in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State.
Though no life was lost, it was however gathered that the students and school lost property worth millions of naira to the inferno.
The students were said to be inside their classes writing exams when the incident started and as such were unable to salvage anything from the fire.
A source within the school said the affected blocks was housing JSS 3 students, but currently occupied by the JSS 2 class as those in JSS 3 had gone home after they had finished their exams.
The source which said the three hostel blocks gutted by the fire, housed over 400 students, attributed the cause of the fire to power surge.
“The three hostel blocks house over 400 students. Three blocks were affected by the fire. Most of the students’ property and provision were affected. Mattresses and beds got burnt.
The Acting State Fire Chief, Mr. Arua Nnanna in a telephone interview with newsman said “the cause of the fire has not been established, but from the report that we got from the field, we are suspecting electrical fault. At the time of the incident, the students were not inside the hostel.
“The level of alertness was so poor and it happens that there was a spark in one of the control switches. The effect of the spark caused all the electrical wire within the area to catch fire.
The acting Fire boss said it will be difficult to estimate the loss incurred by the students, adding that the damage ran into millions of naira.
“From my assessment, each of the rooms houses about 20-30 students and about 3 hostels out of 5 blocks were affected. What they had to fight the fire was not enough, even though they had a fire extinguisher”.
Meanwhile, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has commiserated with the management and staff of the federal government school over the unfortunate fire outbreak.
Governor Ikpeazu represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Okey Ahaiwe, while on an on the spot assessment of the fire incident, decried the level of damage by the inferno.
Ikpeazu directed the school management and PTA to articulate the damages and forward the same to his office, assuring that, though the school is a federal government owned establishment, his government would assist to ensure the damages are mitigated.
He lauded the pro-activeness of the personnel of Abia State Fire Services, who moved in quickly to extinguish the fire and thanked God that no life was lost.
He used the opportunity to advise Abia people and residents to always apply caution in the use of electrical appliances as well as ensure that they install fire extinguishers in their homes and business centres.
Narrating their ordeals earlier, the Principal of the school, Mrs. Ngozi Idika Kalu said the students were in their classes when it was noticed that smoke was coming out from the hostel and the entire school community and the men of Abia State Fire Services were alerted as it turned out to be a fire outbreak.
Mrs. Idika-Kalu, who stated that the cause of the inferno could not be ascertained disclosed that many belongings of the students including beds, foams, phones, clothings, buckets, books, beverages among others were damaged.
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