A Tanker bearing 33,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at Chab Filling Station opposite Star Paper Mill, in Aba, Abia State, caught fire on Thursday and destroyed property worth over N 130 million.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that eyewitnesses claimed the fire outbreak began at about noon and lasted till about 2 pm.
The Abia State Fire Service firemen from both Aba and Umuahia stations came to the rescue, quenching the fire.
An avoidable accident: Arua Nnanna, the Chief Fire Officer of Abia State Fire Service, said the incident could have been avoided. According to him, the service had warned fuel station owners to always discharge their products when the intensity of the sun’s heat is not high.
- “I got a distress call in Umuahia that there is a fuel tanker fire in Aba so I had to send two trucks from our Aba station at Constitution Crescent and by the time I got the second call, it was for assistance from Aba because of the intensity of the fire.
- “So I pushed the trucks in Umuahia down to Aba to ensure that everything was put under control.”
Cause of fire: According to Nnanna, the fire outbreak is suspected to have been caused by the fuel station’s failure to heed earlier warnings to stop discharging fuel at the peak of the heat of the sun.
He suggested that while the tanker was offloading PMS, the weather was hot and the station did not have the necessary safety equipment on hand.
Belenta Belenta, the Commander of Abia State Fire Service, Aba Command, said that the intensity of the fire was beyond the capacity of the Aba command, hence the request for assistance from Umuahia. He said:
- “We got the information and rushed immediately with my men. The tanker was discharging and that discharge resulted in a fire outbreak. The tanker was loaded with 33,000 litres of PMS. We battled the fire with the assistance of our main station in Umuahia. And we quenched it possibly with the type of chemical we had.
- “We are appealing to the government to come to the fire service office to see what we need to ensure that we will continue to serve better. If not that we have capable men who could manage fierce fires, we couldn’t have done much because we do not have enough equipment for this type of fire.”
