Fire guts timber market in Plateau

A timber market in the Katako community, Jos North Local Government Area, has been gutted by fire.

It was learnt that the fire, which started on Sunday night, destroyed goods worth millions of naira, including over 107 shops.

Shuaibu Ali, Chairman of the Plateau State Carpenters Association, confirmed the fire outbreak to our correspondent in Jos on Monday, stating that the incident had been a recurring problem in the market.

Ali said, “Yes, the fire incident is true. I received a phone call around 11:00 pm on Sunday, informing me about the incident. It has been a recurring problem in the market, though the cause of the outbreak isn’t certain.

“Regarding the incident, no one can say directly what caused the fire outbreak because we have a time when we normally close the market.

“So we had closed as usual, and on Sunday night around 11 pm, one of my members called me and told me that there was a fire outbreak in the market, and we rushed to the market. When we got there, the fire had spread to other areas. No one could even come close because of the heat. So, we called the fire service and the security agents to come to our assistance.”

Over 200 people were affected, the majority of whom were carpenters, and about 107 shops were burnt to ashes. It’s really unfortunate.

Chris, Chairman of Jos North Local Government, who also confirmed the incident, said that the fire had been contained with the help of the Federal Fire Service and other emergency responders.

“No one can say what caused the fire outbreak, but we are investigating the incident,” Chris said.