An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, said the fire was caused by vandals, who came to scoop fuel when some farmers were burning the bush.
He said, “The incident started at about 12 noon. Some people came to scoop fuel from the pipeline, unknown to them that some farmers were burning their refuse. It was fire from the refuse burning that made the pipeline to go up in flames.”
Another resident, who also declined to give his name, said that before the fire started, he saw some persons in trucks with gallons and funnels.
He said, “They headed for a place they dug and started scooping fuel. When they noticed that fire had been triggered, they ran away with their vehicle.”
But another resident, Samod Dauda, dismissed the insinuation that it was the activities of pipeline vandals that caused the fire, claiming that there was a leakage in the pipeline which he alleged that the authorities had refused to repair for a long while.
The Chief Fire Officer, Operations, LSFS, Mr. Adebowale Sunday, said, “We got a distress call around 12.30pm from some residents in Diamond Estate. We quickly set out. But before we left, we mobilised firefighters from Igando and Isolo to move to the scene. When they got there, they discovered that it was a petrochemical fire.
“They alerted us and we came with foamy waters to be able to put out the fire. As you can see, we have been able to put out the fire. We came here with six firefighting trucks. It was such dangerous fire.”
The Deputy Superintendent, NSCDC, Mrs. Opeyemi Ayegbusi, urged the government to send a delegation to the place to ascertain the true situation of thing.
An official of the Red Cross Society, Mr. Calistus Ukachukwu, corroborated the views of the residents, saying that his findings revealed that the fire was caused by bush burning which ignited the burst pipeline.
But a safety officer from the Petroleum Product Marketing Company, Ejigbo, said that the NNPC would send a team of engineers to the scene to determine the cause of the fire and what next to be done.
http://www.nigeriacurrentnews.com/fuel-pipeline-explosion-averted-in-lagos/
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