claiming the life of an eight-month-old baby, identified simply as
Ibukunoluwa, in the Oworonshoki area of the state.
The incident happened less than a week after 15 people lost their
lives in an inferno caused by a fallen tanker laden with 33,000 litres
of petrol in the Kirikiri area of the state.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene of the Sunday fire at Oke
Erin Street, Oworonshoki, learnt that over 30 people were rendered
homeless in the fire that lasted for over an hour.
According to residents, the fire started around 10am after the elder
sister of the deceased baby, who was cooking noodles, forgot to put
the fire out.
It was learnt that the mother of the baby, who is an employee of the
Lagos State Waste Management Agency, was not home when the incident
occurred.
A victim, who identified herself only as Iya David, said the fire was
able to spread to other rooms because many of the occupants of the
compound had gone to church.
She said, "I was in church when I started receiving telephone calls
that my house had been gutted by fire. I quickly rushed down to the
scene and saw that about six rooms were on fire. We quickly rallied
around and attempted to put out the fire but it continued to spread.
"We moved closer and that was when we heard the little baby crying. We
saw the baby burning, but there was nothing we could do as the fire
was too intense and the roof came crashing down."
Our correspondent learnt that because the houses were all made of wood
and sawdust, the fire continued to spread and the residents called on
the fire service for help.
It was learnt that the state fire service deployed a truck of water in
the scene from Ilupeju Fire Station.
It was learnt that by the time the fire was put out completely, six
shanties had been completely razed while three others were damaged.
The landlord of the compound, Samuel Olaoye, said seven families were
affected by the fire.
Olaoye explained that the fire started from the veranda where the
baby's sister, said to be about 12-years-old, was cooking.
He said, "I was at church when I was called by residents. I learnt
that the older sister of the baby was cooking noodles at the veranda
when the fire started. She got scared and ran for her life and by the
time she could get help, it was too late.
"The baby has been buried, while I have not seen the mother and the
sister for hours."
As of 4pm, when our correspondent left the scene, smoke was still
billowing from the charred items.
Many of the victims were seen searching through the debris to salvage
some of their belongings.
one of the victims said, "It is not our wish to live in shanties, but
it is because we are poor. We have nowhere to lay our heads and we
have nothing of our own. We are all going to sleep in a church down
the road today. By tomorrow, we will figure something out.
"We however call on the state government to please save our soul."
The General Secretary, Council of Oworonsoki Youth Forum, Kabiawu
Babajide, called on the state government and corporate bodies to
establish a fire station within the area because of high incidences of
fire in the area and its large population.
He said, "Millions of people live in Oworonshoki and many fire
incidents occur every day. Despite this, we have no fire station.
Whenever there is a fire, we have to wait for a fire station from
Ilupeju to respond. This is not adequate.
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