BY KAYODE ANIMASAUN
Fire incident has gutted Optima filling station along Awule road, at the back of ilesa garage, Akure, the Ondo state capital, destroying property worth millions of naira.
The fire which started around 3:55pm razed down the underground tank the administrative building and a tanker filled with Petrol, but no live was lost.
Residents of the area seem to be very happy over the fire incident that destroyed the filling station going by their comments while the incident lasted.
According to them, the filling station deserves the incident that befall it as the manager and all the staff at the filling station have been victimising customers and sell petrol to motorists indiscriminately.
They also alleged that the filling station only sold petrol to unknown vans that would only come in the midnight, while those who queued had not been attended to since the fuel scarcity started.
They however said helped to prevent the fire from extending to their houses beside the filling station.
Our Correspondent reports that the manager of the filling station escaped being attacked by irate Youths as she was rescued out of the scene.
Eye witnesses said the fire started when a petrol tanker was offloading its content into the station’s underground tank.
Mr Abiodun Adelekun who spoke on behalf of youths in the area said they had to come out en masse to ensure the fire was put out to prevent it from spreading to other buildings.
Adelekun said “the fire started when the tanker was offloading its content into the pit (sic). All we heard was a bang and we saw fire everywhere coming out of the tanker”.
“We came out to assist the fire fighters to save our houses. Having petrol stations in clustered areas is not the best. If not for the fire service today and the support of youth from this area, the fire would have escalated beyond control.
An elderly man who has a shop beside the filling station and identified himself as Asabari Elelubo said the loud noise he heard when fire started sent shivers down his spine.
“When I heard the loud noise, I nearly fainted. I had to first run to safety. The panic from the fire which caught my shop seven months ago is still in me and it made this more frightening.
“I am glad the fire service and the youths were able to contain it before it extended to surrounding houses” Asabari added.
The public relations officer of the Federal Fire Service, Ondo state command, Ayodele Ajulo, who attributed the fire to the heat in the underground tank advised filling station operators to be extremely careful while offloading fuel from tankers into their underground tanks, especially during this period of extreme heat.
Ajulo said “we always tell people to be extremely cautious during this period. The hot weather makes it easy for fire to erupt from anything inflammable.
“It is important for people, especially filling station operators, to take all necessary precautions and also have enough fire extinguishers around in case of any emergency”.