A student hostel known as Malisia lodge at Gwalameji area was on Thursday, December 31, 2015 gutted by fire in Bauchi State.
According to Vanguard, no life was lost because many of the occupants of the lodge travelled for the Christmas festivities, although several valuables were razed by the inferno.
The fire which lasted for several hours was said to have started around 2 am and razed down all the rooms in the hostel.
The officials of Fire Service later arrived the scene and put out the fire after it had destroyed many things.
A tenant of the lodge called Jide disclosed that the fire started from one of the rooms which he suspected had an electrical fault.
He said: “I was in my room sleeping when i started hearing people screaming fire, fire. I quickly rushed out of my room along with one other tenant in the lodge. The remaining occupants who are predominantly students travelled for the Christmas period.
“The whole building was razed down and all our belongings, including school certificates and credentials were completely burnt by the fire. We even called some of the occupants of the lodge to inform them about the incident. Men of the state fire service later came to put out the fire.”
Confirming the incident, the information officer of the state fire service, Abubakar Bala, said that 22 rooms were affected in the inferno, adding that the disaster was as a result of an electrical fault in one of the rooms.
He said: “We always warn residents, especially during this harmattan season, to always switch off all electrical appliances before leaving the house because any tiny spark can cause a fire disaster.”
