By Rita Enemuru, Reporting
A major fire outbreak has destroyed a filling station, a petrol tanker and other assets in Saki, Oyo State, raising fresh concerns over fire safety at fuel outlets across the state.
The inferno, which occurred on Tuesday at the RSK Adebowale Multipurpose Filling Station in the Ofiki area of Saki, completely razed the facility, a DAF tanker carrying petrol and a motorcycle.
Confirming the incident in Ibadan on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Services Agency, Mr Moroof Akinwande, said the agency received an emergency alert from Alhaji Mufutau Badmus, the Saki Branch Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
According to him, firefighters were immediately deployed to the scene after the distress call.
“On arrival at the scene, it was discovered that the filling station, a DAF tanker truck loaded with 50,000 litres of petrol, one Bajaj motorcycle and three fuel dispensing pumps were already engulfed in the inferno,” he said.
Akinwande explained that the prompt intervention of the fire service helped to contain the blaze and stop it from spreading to nearby buildings and properties.
He also praised officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the Ofiki Division for maintaining security and supporting emergency operations during the incident.
The fire service boss advised filling station operators across the state to strictly adhere to fire safety regulations to prevent avoidable disasters.
The incident comes barely weeks after a similar fire outbreak on January 09 at a filling station in the Kara area of Kishi, Irepo Local Government Area, where three vehicles and a community power house were destroyed.
An eyewitness said the Kishi fire started around 5 p.m. after an explosion at the power house, which ignited flammable materials and spread to nearby properties.
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