The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) wing of the federal secretariat in Asaba, Delta State capital, was engulfed by fire on Tuesday.
A firefighter in the Delta State Fire Service Rescue Team, as at press time, was in critical condition, as he reportedly fell from the second floor of the building.
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Our correspondent gathered the fire started around 7 am, as workers were resuming the day’s work.
An eyewitness said documents and properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed, while workers, in panic, scampered for safety.
When our correspondent visited the scene, some workers were seen trying to sort out documents.
The State Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs Olutayo Samuel, said nothing was spared in the NYSC section as everything was completely razed in the inferno.
“What happened this very early morning is very unfortunate. I got a call that our office was on fire this morning and I quickly rushed there,
“I don’t know how fire gutted the office. Nobody can ascertain exactly the cause of the fire.
“Virtually, everything there got burnt, everything in the office got damage. All the file documents bunt to aches but we have a back-up.
“You know this is the technology age, so everything is in our system.
“Coincidentally, we took some of our systems to the camp and they are still in the camp, so there will be no setback because we have them in the system.
“By the grace of God, there is no life lost because that is the most important thing.
“I feel good because whatever damaged will be replaced but if life had been lost, we couldn’t have replaced it.”
A federal fire service staff said but for their quick response in collaboration with the state anti-fire establishment, the fire would have spread to other sections of the building.
“Two of our men sustained injuries. One of them is critical because he fell from the second floor in the process of combating the fire.
“We quickly rushed him to the Federal Medical Centre FMC, and we have spoken to the MD of the hospital he said they are attending to him.
“Because of our quick response with our state counterpart, the fire could not escalate to the other building.
“[It] Only affected the NYSC section. What actually caused the fire? but we are assuming it to be electrical surge” he narrated.
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