Fire destroys shops at Gombe technology centre

A fire outbreak at the Technology Incubation Centre near the Police Headquarters in Gombe State on Friday destroyed property estimated at N4 million.

The blaze affected five shops at the facility but was prevented from spreading to other parts of the centre by the Federal Fire Service (FFS), which said property worth about N15 million was salvaged.

The Gombe State Command of the FFS said it received a distress call about the incident at 10:14am and immediately deployed a multipurpose water tender to the scene.

The firefighting team, led by ASF II Mukhtar Shehu, arrived at the centre and extinguished the flames using one medium jet of water.

According to the command, four of the five affected shops were saved during the operation.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, ASF MB Muazu, said firefighters inspected the area after putting out the fire and found no immediate risk of re-ignition.

He said, “The Federal Fire Service, Gombe State Command, has successfully contained a fire outbreak involving five shops at the Technology Incubation Centre, near the Police Headquarters, Gombe.”

Muazu added, “Four of the five affected shops were successfully saved, with property estimated at N15m salvaged, while the estimated loss stood at approximately N4m.”

He said the firefighting crew and equipment returned to the station at about 11:09am after confirming that the fire had been completely extinguished.

The command urged residents to report fire incidents promptly and observe basic safety measures to minimise avoidable losses.