No fewer than 17 shops were destroyed in an early morning fire that swept through Sabo Market in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State on Tuesday, causing extensive damage to goods and property but leaving no casualties.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the incident, saying the fire broke out at about 1:10 a.m. before emergency responders successfully contained it, preventing the blaze from spreading to other sections of the market.
According to LASEMA spokesperson, Olawale Afolabi, preliminary investigations indicate that the fire started in one of the shops before spreading to adjoining stalls.
“The immediate cause is suspected to be an electrical surge, as the outbreak reportedly occurred while the power supply was active,” the agency said.
Emergency response teams from LASEMA and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service were promptly deployed to the scene, where they carried out firefighting operations and prevented what officials described as a potentially larger disaster.
A post-incident assessment showed that 17 of the 32 shops in the affected section of the market were damaged. The destroyed shops contained provisions, groceries, foodstuffs and other merchandise worth millions of naira.
LASEMA said no deaths or injuries were recorded during the incident, attributing the positive outcome to the swift response of emergency personnel.
“The remaining shops within the affected row, as well as adjoining shops in the market, were largely salvaged due to the timely response of emergency teams,” the agency stated, adding that recovery operations had been completed.
Following the incident, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, urged traders, market leaders and residents to observe electrical safety measures by ensuring proper wiring of shops, avoiding the overloading of electrical appliances and conducting regular inspections of electrical installations.
He also encouraged members of the public to promptly report emergencies through the state’s toll-free emergency lines, 112 and 767, to facilitate rapid intervention by emergency agencies.
The latest incident comes just days after another fire outbreak affected a three-storey residential building in the Ikosi area of Lagos. As with the Sabo Market incident, no lives were lost, highlighting the effectiveness of the state’s emergency response despite recurring fire outbreaks linked to suspected electrical faults.
