Goods estimated at several millions of naira were yesterday destroyed in a fire out break at the show room of furniture giant, Alibert, located on plot 56, along the popular Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.
The Lebanese owned company is sandwiched between Mikano International Limited and Amigo Stores.
The cause of the fire was still unknown at press time but eyewitness accounts have it that the fire was noticed from the last floor of the multi-storey building at a few minutes past 1pm, yesterday.
The fire incident is the fifth in the territory within the last two weeks.
Penultimate week, over 15 stores were razed at the Garki Model Market. Other reported incidents were at the National Assembly Complex, Ketch-Up Cafe, located on Aminu Kano Crescent and the latest at AP Filling Station, Life Camp, on Sunday.
A snacks seller near the furniture store said the fire was noticed at about 1pm and everybody in the building was evacuated after which a call was put across to the fire service.
“When they noticed the fire, they called the fire service immediately but before they got here, the fire had escalated,” he said.
A watch team leader of the Federal Capital Territory Fire Service, Mr. Matthew Adegboye, who was part of the rescue team, told LEADERSHIP that the service got the fire call at a few minutes past 1pm and got to the scene from their Asokoro district office within seven minutes.
“We got the call a few minutes past 1pm and we got here after 7 minutes. The level of damage is much; there are a lot of chairs, tables and ply wood up there,” he said.
He confirmed that there was no human casualty in the incident, just as he said the fire had been brought under control.
At the time of going to press, the management of the company was yet to make an official statement on the value of goods lost in the fire, as they said they were still trying to recover from the shock.
A management staff of the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “We cannot speak with the press now. We want to have accurate details of what we lost and till then, we are not granting any interviews.”
LEADERSHIP gathered that furniture including sofas, dining sets, school and office furniture, plywood, ceramic works and other interior decoration items were lost in the fire.
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