Fire guts foam factory in Lagos

There was confusion on Thursday after a Factory, Sarah Foam factory, was gutted by fire around 10am in the Kirikiri Town, Lagos.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the inferno was caused by an electric surge from the rebranding section of the factory, which escalated and spread to the warehouse section.

It was gathered that the workers alerted the Lagos State Fire Service about 30 minutes after they had tried in vain to put out the fire, which destroyed raw materials and machines estimated at millions of naira.


Our correspondent learnt that trucks containing 10,000 of water and chemical foam were deployed in the area by firefighters before the fire was eventually put out around 2pm.

An employee of the factory, who did not want his name in print, said he was amazed that what started like a minor incident resulted in “such a huge damage.”

He, however, said there was no casualty in the incident.

He said, “The fire started from our rebranding section and soon, it spread to the warehouse. Raw materials and foams that were kept there were destroyed. Some of our machines were also burnt. We were able to salvage some mattresses. The most important thing is that nobody was trapped in the fire.”

An eyewitness, Dolapo Fapanle, said the damage would have been minimised had the company contacted the firefighters on time. He also blamed the firefighters for arriving late after they were alerted.

He said, “It was around 10am that the fire started, but the fire service came around 11.30am. Initially, it was the workers who were trying to put out the fire, but they called firefighters when they could no longer handle it.

“The damage was much. Maybe it would have been reduced if they were notified on time.”

While confirming the incident, the Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, said the agency received the distress call at 10.56am and responded immediately.

He added that officials from three stations were deployed in the area.

He said, “After receiving a distress call that Sarah Foam Factory was on fire, our officials at Sari-Iganmu, Isolo and Alausa divisions responded with about 10,000 chemical foam to put out the fire.

“It was caused by an electric spark froms the rebranding section of the factory and some of their materials and machines were destroyed.

“We ensured that the store with flammable chemicals was not affected to minimise the damage. Nobody was injured.”

No comments :

Post a Comment