Not less than ten Lagos State LAGBUS vehicles, four refuse evacuation trucks and millions of naira worth of goods stored in warehouses have been destroyed in a sudden outbreak of fire at the Olusosun dump site in Ojota, Lagos.
The fire which started at about 4 pm on Wednesday evening was allegedly caused by a flare on the dumpsite which quickly spiralled out of control.
According to eyewitnesses, drivers inside the LAGBUS park at the time of the fire did not take expect the inferno to escalate, hence, their refusal to evacuate the buses.
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Saharareporters learnt that there has been a frequent occurrence of flares in the site but the one of Wednesday got out of hands because of delay of the management in alerting the firefighters.
The fire has been continuously burning for more than 4 hours before the Lagos State Fire Service managed to contain the inferno.
The fire was still bellowing as at 10 pm on Wednesday, though the Fire Service had tried to contain it.
However, all Lagos state emergency units and security agencies were on the ground.
At the time of filing this report, there was no causality.
The Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Idowu Fadipe, said but for the strategic approach of the firemen, the fire would have destroyed more properties.
He said: “When we came in, we met the Fire well alight and it had already affected some of the buses here, but nobody was affected. We responded promptly”
Cleaner Lagos’, a Twitter handle of the Ministry of Environment said of likely cause of the fire: "It is necessary to clarify that the fire at Olusosun dumpsite wasn’t deliberately set by the Lagos state government or any individual. It broke out as a result of the pockets of unstable gases caused by indiscriminate dumping and further compounded by dry weather
There was massive gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Seven-Up axis, Governor Office Road and some part of the network of roads around the Lagos State Secretariat due to the fire.