Midnight Fire Razes Port-harcourt Mile One Market & two-storey Building[pics]

HUNDREDS
of shops stuffed to the brim with food, clothings and other items, as Christmas shopping peaked, were razed in a wild fire which reduced the Mile I market in Port Harcourt to rubles, yesterday.
The fire also burnt adjacent house, 57, Ikwerre Road, a two-storey building housing shop owners and other residents who lost virtually all their personal belongings to the fire.
The inferno reportedly started out at about 2 am, but none of the devastated shop owners and the market authorities, some of who also claimed to have lost millions of cash locked in their shops, were able to establish a clue as to what ignited it and the exact point where it started.
Scene of the inferno
However, Rivers State Commissioner for Special Duties, Dickson Umunakwe, whose ministry supervises the state fire service, blamed the uninhibited impact of the fire on poor consciousness among traders and residents in the vicinity.
He said: “Three things are involved in this disaster: Carelessness on the part of the traders and residents of this area, ignorance and sabotage. These factors contributed.”
Umunakwe further said efforts to co-opt the fire units of major oil companies in Port Harcourt which could have added value to the state fire service’s efforts to arrest the fire did not materialise as companies who were reached on phone declined assistance on the ground that they needed a go ahead from their managements.
Govt suspects sabotage
The state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, in separate reaction, harped on sabotage, alleging a link between the inferno and current political uncertainties in the state.
He said: “At 2 a.m, we heard dynamite and all kinds of sounds emanating from the AbonimaWharf area and also from the Marine Base. This sound continued. We are suspicious of sabotage in the light of current happenings in the state.”
Blame galore
In continued blame passing over the disaster, factional Chairman of the Mile I Market Association, Chief Young Obene Clark Georgewill, accused Chairman of a council in the state as masterminding the burning of the market.
He said: “Recently, I borrowed some money from a micro finance bank, but I was not feeling well so I gave it to my wife to stock my shop. Now everything is gone, burnt by these people.”
Kenneth Eze, the Market Master instated by Akarolo, the Port Harcourt council boss who displaced Georgewill, however, blamed the fire disaster on negligence by the council and the Rivers State Government on maintenance of the market.
Victims count losses
Mrs. Olatoyin, one of several tenants at the storey building also gutted by the fire said the impact would have been far minimal if the Rivers State Fire Service was proactive.
She said “The fire started from the other side and as early as past 2am, I and my husband rushed to the fire service close by. They came with trucks but none had water. They were just there idling about with their vehicles as the fire spread, burning the entire shops and took over our house.
“What I am putting on is the only clothes I have. By the time we returned from the fire service, our entire apartment was razed, including documents. The state fire service is just there for nothing. They are not working. I am nonetheless grateful that nobody was burnt to death.
“And I went back to our burnt apartment and discovered that my gold jewelleries were not damaged.”
Madam Joy Opara who lost her shop of deep freezers with fresh stock of frozen food to the fire said, in between sobs, said “I cannot quantify the lost. I don’t even know where to start. Most of us borrowed money to trade”in this market. What I get daily I use in supporting my family and younger ones who are in school. Where do I go from here now?”
As victims count their losses, Chairman (Major) of Port Harcourt City Council, Aharolo, has promised to build a more befitting market at the burnt shops while also declaring to set up inquiry into the disaster.

Dry season don com so fire outbreak's imminent. May God help us sha