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Fire on Sunday razed an area in Kolokolo Quarters of Enerhen, Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State, destroying property worth N50million.
A number of makeshift houses and shops were consumed in the noon inferno, which started from one of the structures when residents and the shop owners were still in church.
An eyewitness, Ochuko, said: “The fire came from one of the makeshift apartments, when electric power was restored to the neighbourhood. Residents had gone to their places of worship when it started. We couldn’t rescue anything.
“The shop owners usually don’t open on Sundays. They lost everything. The fire would have consumed more buildings but for the intervention of the Delta State Fire Service team, which stopped further spread.”
Another eyewitness told Vanguard: “A nearby storey building was already in flame when the Fire Service came to the rescue. “If not for their efforts, the whole building would have been razed and it would easily have spread to other adjoining buildings.”
Items consumed by the fire ranged from building materials to clothing and electronics in a repair shop and personal effects of residents.
A shop owner, identified as Mama Efe, who ran to the scene from church, began to cry, saying her entire life investments and property had been destroyed by the fire.
Mama Efe appealed to Delta State Government, Uvwie council and relevant agencies to come to her aid as her family had been battling to cope with the present economic recession, before the fire incident, which she said would drastically aggravate their hardship.