A fire incident at a residential house on Bola Street in the Oyingbo area of Lagos State has claimed the life of a 103-year-old woman and destroyed several properties.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the tragedy in a statement released by its Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu. He said the agency received an emergency alert around noon on Friday.
He added that response teams arrived at the location by 12:13 p.m. and found that a bungalow, along with two adjoining shops, had been completely consumed by the fire.
“Upon the arrival of the LRT at the incident scene by 12:13 hours, it was observed that a residential bungalow with two shops attached was engulfed by fire at the aforementioned location,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.
He explained that the fire was first noticed in one of the rooms before spreading rapidly to other parts of the building, adding that the cause of the outbreak had not yet been determined.
“The fire reportedly started in a room before spreading to other rooms within the building. However, the cause of the fire had yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report,” he stated.
The permanent secretary said emergency response procedures were immediately activated, but a preliminary assessment confirmed that the elderly woman trapped in the building did not survive the incident.
“Unfortunately, one life, a 103-year-old centenarian (name withheld), was lost to the incident,” he added.
Oke-Osanyintolu disclosed that the fire affected eight rooms, a mini flat, six shops and several household items within the premises.
He also noted that the remains of the deceased had been handed over to her family, while firefighters from LASEMA, in collaboration with other emergency responders, successfully extinguished the blaze.
“The recovered body has been handed over to the family for necessary action. The fire has been completely extinguished,” he said.
He added that rescue, recovery and dampening-down operations had been concluded, while authorities continued to assess the extent of damage caused by the incident.
