Expdonaloaded News; Fire razes Sara Foam in Lagos

Sara Foam Nigeria Limited, a foam-manufacturing outfit in Kirikiri Industrial Estate, Lagos, suffered heavy losses yesterday. A section of the company’s Lagos factory situated along Happy Home Avenue, Kirikiri, Apapa was razed by a late morning inferno, destroying property and equipment worth millions of naira.
But for the swift intervention of fire fighters from the nearby corporate headquarters of The Sun Publishing Limited who quickly mobilised the company’s fire fighting truck to the scene, the entire company might have been razed. The Sun’s fire fighters, who were at the scene in a matter of minutes, faced the raging fire and battled to douse it.  The fire was said to have started at about 11am from an electrical spark from some wires near the Bonding Section of the company. Highly inflammable materials, including foams were also stored near the section where the spark happened. Other sources said the electrical connection and other working materials were just too congested at the section.
The efforts of the officials of about three Lagos State Fire Stations and the Federal Fire Service who arrived at the scene after about 40 minutes also paid off. The state fire fighters were the first to arrive at the place. The came with three trucks as their men swung into action immediately. Their counterparts from the federal fire service joined about 15 minutes later, and they complemented one another’s efforts in fighting the furious fire.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..
One of the trucks’ drivers told our reporters that the fire fighters would have been at the scene earlier, but regretted that the bad roads connecting the troubled company hindered their movement. He said the team also encountered traffic congestion at certain areas as the trucks raced to Kirikiri.
Luckily, the section where major chemicals used in producing the final materials for the finished product was not affected. It was a highly combustible section where explosive chemicals for making foams were being stored. The disaster would have been more because the said chemicals would have continued to explode if they had been torched, our correspondents gathered.
A driver at the company, who did not disclose his name said: “I was here around 11am when I heard people shouting that there was fire. I jumped up from where I sat and I was told to quickly drive my vehicle to a safe place. Thank God the fire is not more than this.”
Another worker said: “Thank God. If not, the fire could have spread within the neighbourhood in no time. If the fire had spread to this section, it could have transported the flame from one spot and as far as two kilometres. When a part of the company also got burnt last time, we quickly moved out some of the major equipment in a truck to avoid a terrible disaster.”
One of the team members from Federal Fire Service, Surulere, Mr. Bamikole Rotimi equally lamented that the Kirikiri axis roads were nothing to write home about. “Getting here was difficult due to traffic and bad roads around this area. We hit the road immediately we received the distress call, although our location is also far from here.”
One of the officials of the Lagos State Fire Service, Ibraheem Saheed, told Daily Sun that the fire servicemen left their base as soon as they received the call alert and quickly informed the Sari Iganmu, Isolo and Alausa stations and were there before the fire could cause major havoc.
He said: “We were here on time and have succeeded in curtailing the fire. No life was lost. According to some of the workers, major machinery was not also burnt in the inferno. Most of the things that were affected were foams of various sizes. However, a comprehensive report of the damaged items is not yet known.”
The fire fighters, it was gathered, were also able to curtail the inferno from spreading to the engine room and production unit.
Some youths who rushed to the scene to help quench the inferno were infuriated when they were asked to create space for the professional fire fighters to do their work. It took the intervention of the policemen and their counterparts from the Navy to disperse the crowd.
A worker at the company said Sara Foam would remain indebted to The Sun Publishing Limited for its prompt assistance to arrest the situation.
“The Sun people really tried today. They were here even when nobody called them. They brought the first truck, exhausted the water, and this is the third time they have come with their fire truck,” he said.