AN eight-bedroom bungalow containing cash and other property worth several millions of naira was razed on Thursday at the Kolajo area, along the Academy-Olunde Road in Ibadan, Oyo State, in a fire disaster caused by an overheated frying pan.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the incident occurred at about 6.30 p.m.
It was reported that the fire broke out after a frying pan being used by a tenant known as Iya Mariam to fry meat on a small gas cooker became overheated. The woman was said to have left the frying to attend to other things.
Another version of the story had it that the tenant was heating palm oil on the cooker when she went away to grind pepper. This was said to have made the oil overheat and cause the gas cylinder to explode.
The commandant of the Oluyole Security Surveillance Team (OSST) in Oluyole Local Government Area, Olusegun Idowu, told Saturday Tribune that he received a distress call from the vice chairman of the local government, Mr Tunde Ayoade, informing him of the disaster.
Idowu said: “Not more than 10 minutes, as I was going to the scene, I saw a fire service truck approaching and I joined it.
“Two ways led to the house where the incident occurred – Ile Shehu Road, which can only accommodate cars, and Agric-Kolajo Road which could take bigger vehicles.
“For the truck to get through, it was supposed to take the Kolajo Way, but the road was so bad that it became slippery due to rainfall, and there were stuck vehicles.
“After everyone had made futile efforts, the firefighters and other people started fetching water from deep wells to put out the fire. Later, the other way became free and the truck was able to get about 200 meters away from the burning house.
“The fire had taken over the entire building, so efforts were intensified to stop it from spreading to buildings surrounding the burning one.
“After the fire was put out by the fire service at about 9.55 p.m., virtually all the property in the house had been consumed.”
The woman who allegedly caused the fire was said to have run away.
A man, Mr Kolawole Alatishe, a brother to the landlady of the destroyed building, was in tears when speaking about the incident.
He said that a cash of N1.2 million which he kept in his sister’s house on the fateful day, which was meant to buy planks to continue the construction of other parts of his house, was burnt in the fire.
“My sister, Mrs Iyabo Adegbola, is almost 80. I just got home at about 8.00 p.m. and didn’t see my immediate elder sister who came to celebrate Sallah with us. I also didn’t see my son, Rilwan, so I called him. He told me of the inferno and I rushed there only to meet it in ruins. I had just returned from Lagos that day and kept N1.2 million cash in my sister’s room,” Mr Alatishe said.
Also, Mr Fatai Alimi, a septuagenarian, who is a son-in-law to the landlady and had been living in the house with his wife since 2005, explained what happened.
“A number of us were sitting outside while the tenant, Iya Mariam, was cooking in her room. My wife was also outside, washing. Iya Mariam was the one who first sighted the fire and raised the alarm. By the time we got up to see what was happening, the fire had spread.”
Mr Alimi, who said that his own house was under construction nearby, said: “Immediately I saw the fire, my first instinct was to retrieve the N300,000 I kept inside to continue work on my site. I wanted to use it this morning (Friday) to do some work. My wife also had N150,000 inside. The entire money is now gone.”
According to him, his property, including his building plan, a television, a licence, phones, among other property, were destroyed.
“My mother-in-law went to one of her children to celebrate the sallah festivity and has yet to be told. If she had been informed of the disaster, we don’t know what could have happened. My wife was resuscitated after she had fainted. The loss is monumental,” he added.
The Assistant Chief Fire Superintendent, Christy Olubunmi, who led the fire service team to the scene, confirmed the impediment faced by officials but said they eventually succeeded in putting out the fire and prevented it from spreading to other houses.
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