Adewuyi told SaharaReporters that the cause of the fire incident could be linked to a nearby dumpsite, which has extended to the market.
The Chief Fire Officer in Oyo State, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi, on Wednesday confirmed that goods and properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in the midnight fire incident that occurred at Sabo market in Oyo town.
Adewuyi told SaharaReporters that the cause of the fire incident could be linked to a nearby dumpsite, which has extended to the market.
He said eight shops were gutted by the fire.
"Yes, it is true. We were called around 30 minutes to 11 pm. My people went to the scene of the incident. You know, our office is very close to Sabo.
"Immediately they got there, they discovered that some shops were still intact so they tried as much as possible to stop the spread of the fire. About eight shops were affected.
"Only eight shops that were affected. Let us now go to the main cause; they have properties worth millions of naira there and there is also a dump site there. When they wanted to burn the rubbish at the dumpsite, they just burnt it and left. They did not wait to ensure it did not spread beyond what they wanted. These are some of the mistakes that our people make.
"I believe there should be a minimum distance between your shop and a dumpsite. So, they put fire to the dumpsite and went home. It was the fire from the dumpsite that spread to those shops."
The fire incident which started around 10 pm on Tuesday destroyed some shops and properties in the market.
It took the intervention of the state fire service to put out the fire.
Meanwhile, a trader in the market, Kunle Kazeem, popularly called KK said goods worth millions of naira were destroyed in his shop.
He said; "This is unfortunate. I lost over N5 million worth of goods to the incident. I don't know where to start from."