Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
A fire outbreak on Wednesday morning burnt down a popular Night Club, Roky Fella, located in Abakaliki capital of Ebonyi State.
Properties and goods worth millions of Naira were destroyed as a result before the fire was put out.
The club is located along Udoji Street, Kpirikpiri Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Capital directly opposite the Pa Oruta Ngele Township stadium.
Some of the properties and goods destroyed by the inferno include: refrigerators, television sets, air conditioners, other electronics gadgets, musical equipments, chairs, tables, assorted drinks and other goods at the shop.
The fire incident which was said to have started at about 5:30Am lasted for over 1 hour before the intervention of the Ebonyi State Fire Service that arrived the scene and was able to put out the fire.
An eyewitness, Mr. Uche Ogbodo, attributed the fire outbreak to power surge.
He noted that staff of the club house who were still sleeping inside the building before the incident all came out unhurt but expressed the regret that all the facilities in the night club were burnt down.
“To the best of my knowledge, the incident could be as a result of power surge because the club had closed early this morning at about 4:30am and the outbreak started around 5:30am.
“At about that 5:45am, we observed thick fire and smoke coming out from the night club and alerted other neighbors who called on the attention of fire service men who helped to control the fire from extending to other buildings.
“The incident caused serious panic and tension within the area following the late arrival of the Fire Service men. Residents resorted to self help by fetching water from a nearby Borehole and mixing it with detergent to quench the fire but the fire was uncontrollable.
The manager of the Night Club, Mr. Chidi Chukwuemeka, said that the staff of the club called him at about 6am that fire outbreak gutted the club house and he had to rush to the place adding that on getting there, the entire building had been razed down.
The Chief Fire Officer, Ebonyi State, Mr. Raphael Ibiam, explained that they got a distress call at about 6:30 am and on arriving the scene, a lot of damage had been caused by the fire.
“We weren’t called on time and I immediately mobilised and we went to the scene, unfortunately, the fire had burnt down the entire club house. We did our best to prevent the fire from extending to other nearby houses,” he said.
