Goods and properties worth millions of naira was yesterday engulfed in an early morning inferno that touched part off the popular Kimowei.filling station along the Mbiama-Yenagoa road, Amarata,
The fire which source is yet to be ascertained, burnt down over 15 shops and about seven houses close to the filling station, started at about 2:30am and raged on for over two hours before men of the Federal Fire Service arrived the scene.
Others believed that the electricity spart fell on the Seina which made it to engulf in flame and spread to other buildings and part of the filling station.
Some of the residents who spoke with our correspondent, alleged that the fire began from the pure water factory attached to the station, while others said it was from seina car parked outside the rear entrance of station.
Both victims and eye witnesses told newsmen at the scene that the diesel that flow from the vehicle burnt down part of the filling station and spilled into some buildings and shops in the area, burning down peoples property and goods.
One of the victim and a widow, Mrs Chika Eze, who lost all her entire wares in the inferno, explained that she and her children heard the shout of fire from neighbors and by the time they woke, the entire shop have raised down.
Mrs Eze, who spoke in tears, said she cannot quantify the value of the things she lost in the early morning fire as all her goods including bags of rice, garri, fish, bags of fishes and other household were totally burnt down including her cooking utensils.
While calling on the government to come to their rescue, she said she recently lost her husband and only depend on daily sales of these items for feeding heat children.
Also another victim, Ebiomo Queen, who runs a mini-supermarket in the area, said goods and money inside her shop worth about N20 million have been burnt down by the fire.
She said: “I cannot even value the goods that have burnt down in my shop, the source of my livelihood has been burnt down, over N20 million gone, I own a mini-supermarket here, the worst of it is that I’m not living nearby, I would have rush in and try to remove some goods from the shop, but unfortunately, we locked it as we lyesterday, that the fire gutted everything.
“This is too much for me this beginning of the year, where will I go, I want to plead with the government to come to our rescue, so that we will return to the normal life again.”
Another victim, Mr Theophilus Joseph Otti, said the security personnel from the nearby Kimiowei filling station raised alarm of a fire incident, when he wake up, fire was already destroying property.
He said: “This morning, around 3am, we heard alarm from the security people from Kimiowei filling station that there is fire, so we came out, we saw the fire coming from the factory session of the filling station, as we were trying to block the fire, the vehicle that was packed by the filling station exploded, at that point, we could not control the fire again.”
Another victim, Chinyere Eze, whose house and property have been destroyed by the inferno said that he could not remove anything, as they were trying to safe lives than property.
She said: “When the fire started this morning, around 2:30am, I tried to jump into the house to pick things, but I could not pick anything, as I’m talking to you, it is only this cloth I’m wearing that is left for me, everything has been burnt down.
“We were sleeping, as they shouted fire, when we wake up the fire was coming towards our building, all the money that I wanted to use to buy my goods has been burnt.
Other victims who lamented over the lost of property and goods called on government and other public spirited individuals to come to their aid in order to start life again.
Also speaking, one of the staff of the filling who took out correspondent round the burnt part of the station, said it will take millions of naira to restore some of the engines.
Police spokesman in Bayelsa State, ASP Musa Muhammed, who confirmed the fire incident, said it was as a result from electricity spark that made a vehicle to gut fire and the flame spread to the other building.
Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
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