A fire outbreak on Sunday afternoon destroyed parts of a residential building in Omu-Aran, Kwara State, after children reportedly played with a cooking gas cylinder while their parents were away.
The incident occurred on Sunday May 10 at about 12:57 p.m. at Olayinka House located along Ibrahim Taiwo Road in Omu-Aran, according to the Kwara State Fire Service.
In a statement issued in Ilorin by the agency’s spokesperson and Head of Media Unit, Hassan Hakeem Adekunle, the fire affected a storey building comprising four flats of three-bedroom apartments each. Two of the flats were damaged before firefighters arrived at the scene and successfully brought the situation under control around 1:21 p.m.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the fire outbreak was caused by children playing with a cooking gas cylinder while their parents were away from home. These children reportedly eventually ran downstairs crying for help after the fire became too intense to handle, attracting the attention of a passerby who alerted emergency responders.
The agency credited the swift intervention of firefighters for preventing the blaze from spreading to the remaining sections of the building.
No casualty or injury was recorded during the incident.
Reacting to the development, the Director of the Kwara State Fire Service, Chief Fire Superintendent Alabi Mohammed, urged parents and guardians to be more vigilant by keeping flammable materials away from children. He warned against leaving children unattended around cooking appliances and gas cylinders, stressing that such negligence could lead to avoidable disasters.
Mohammed also appealed to residents to promptly alert the Fire Service whenever fire incidents occur to reduce damage to lives and property.
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