By Desire Emmanuel
Three residents were in the early hours of Friday injured and valuables destroyed when three buildings went up in flames in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, as a result of power surge from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
The unfortunate incident occurred at Amosun compound, Aremo area of the metropolis and it involved three bungalows built beside one another.
According to reports, one of the buildings caught fire as a result of power surge after an appliance left plugged by one of the residents during a power outage exploded when a high power current was restored by IBEDC. The fire the spread to the two others.
The power supply in many areas in Ibadan has been epileptic and terrible in the last two weeks, as many residents complained that whenever power was restored, their appliances are either destroyed or the supply destroys their transformers.
Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Services Agency, Mr Moroof Akinwande, who confirmed the incident on Friday evening, said officials of the agency received a distress call from a resident and immediately deployed personnel to contain the fire.
He said when the firefighters got to the scene, they met three residential bungalows already engulfed in flames.
He said: “Our officers swung into action, curtailed the fire and prevented it from spreading to nearby buildings and properties.”
He added that three persons were rescued but sustained varying degrees of injuries, saying that they were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Akinwande also disclosed that the fire was due to electrical surge caused by an appliance left plugged in during a power outage.
