A midnight fire outbreak in Azare town of Katagum local government area of Bauchi State has killed a mother and her four children.
The fire incident, an eyewitness, Hassan Beli, said engulfed Malam Sagir Abdulkadir’s house located along Bye-pass opposite Bamanga Filing Station, in Azare, around 2:00 am on Wednesday. He said the victims were fast asleep in the apartment when the inferno started.
Beli told WikkiTimes that a fridge explosion reportedly led to the fire that consumed the five members of the household. He added that one of the two apartments in the house was completely razed.
“The fire was suspected to be caused by a gas cylinder attached to a fridge which exploded. The mother and her children were deep asleep when it occurred”.
“It took the efforts of good Samaritans and the fire service to put off the fire from spreading to other houses in the area. But I can tell you that the whole apartment was affected while the husband, who was in the other apartment with his other wife, escaped”, said Beli.
Even though the extent of the damages is yet to be quantified, sources in the area said properties worth millions of naira were affected, apart from the five lives lost.
Another witness, Ahmed Qzaro said it was pathetic that the people who gathered could not save the family from dying, as the extent of the fire was severe.
“We couldn’t save them because the flame is higher. By the time the fire service men arrived, the apartment was engulfed. Both the mother and her children were dead”, said Ahmed.
Musa Ibrahim Waziri, in-charge of Azare Zona Fire Service Station, confirmed the incident. He said they received a distress call about the incident, and that officers were swiftly mobilized to the scene to contain the fire.
He, however, echoed eyewitnesses that preliminary investigation has revealed that the fire was caused by overheating of electrical appliances in the house.
“Five people died from the incident. They have already been buried this morning, including a mother and her four children. They were initially rushed to Teaching Hospital Azare where they were confirmed dead”.
“Based on our findings, the fire had resulted from the overheating of electrical appliances. Our officers were there until 4:00 am trying to put off the fire. The whole apartment was completely razed down, but we were successful in containing the fire from spreading to neighboring houses”, he confirmed.
Waziri, however, called on residents to always switch-off electrical appliances at nights especially now that we are in hot season as appliances used to overheat.
