A tragic fire outbreak has razed seven apartments in Zamfara State, including one newly occupied by a bride preparing for her wedding and another owned by a staff member of the state’s fire service.
Eyewitnesses say the blaze began around 8:40 a.m., startling residents with desperate cries for help from women in the compound.
Malam Dan Sokoto, one of the neighbours, shared the fire’s origin: “When we rushed to rescue the oldest woman, Hajiya, from her unit where the fire started, we saw thick flames. We tried to extinguish it with water, but the fire flared up more, as if we added petrol.”
Hajiya reportedly believed the fire started from her ceiling, but couldn’t identify the exact cause. “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.”
Although fire service personnel arrived promptly, residents said faulty fire trucks delayed intervention.
“The firefighters came on time, but due to technical faults in the fire trucks, they could not start putting out the fire immediately. For over an hour, they battled to fix the trucks,” Sokoto stated.
Ironically, one of the gutted homes belonged to a fire service official. However, the bride’s loss was most heartbreaking. She had moved in her belongings only a day before.
Her brother, overwhelmed with emotion, said, “It was just yesterday we brought all her properties and arranged everything ready for their married life to begin tomorrow, but they were completely destroyed by the fire.”
The Executive Secretary of the Zamfara State Fire Service, Bello Sani, confirmed the incident and maintained that the response team arrived quickly.
