Seven homes, including that of a newlywed-to-be and a firefighter, have been reduced to ashes following a fierce fire that broke out Thursday morning in Zamfara State.
The fire started around 8:40 a.m., according to local accounts, with residents alerted by frantic shouts from women in the compound.
“We were trying to rescue the elderly woman, Hajiya, from her apartment where the fire ignited,” said Malam Dan Sokoto, an eyewitness. “The flames kept growing despite our attempts to douse them with water. It was as if we were fueling the fire instead.”
Hajiya said the fire erupted from the ceiling of her room. “It is in the ceiling,” she said. “Though I cannot actually identify the cause of the fire, I heard a sound indicating that something exploded in the ceiling of my room.”
Firefighters were notified swiftly and arrived on-site, but their intervention was delayed.
“They got here fast, but their equipment malfunctioned, so they couldn’t tackle the fire immediately,” Sokoto added. “They spent more than an hour trying to fix the trucks.”
The irony wasn’t lost on locals: one of the destroyed apartments belonged to a fire service officer.
For the bride, the devastation was personal and untimely. She had just furnished her new apartment ahead of her wedding day.
Her brother recounted the heartbreak: “It was just yesterday we brought all her properties and arranged everything ready for their marriage life to begin tomorrow, but they were completely destroyed by the fire.”
Bello Sani, the Fire Service’s Executive Secretary, confirmed the event and defended the agency’s swift arrival.
