No fewer than 17 tricycles (Adaidaita Sahu) and two petrol tankers were destroyed on Tuesday night following two separate fire outbreaks at filling stations in Kano State.
The incidents were confirmed by the Public Relations Officer of the Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Abdullahi, who disclosed that the first fire occurred at AA Ayagi Filling Station in Kanye village along Gwarzo Road, Kabo Local Government Area, at about 8:45 p.m.
Abdullahi explained that the Fire Service control room received a distress call at 20:45 hours from one of its personnel, Muhammad Wada Abdulsalam, alerting authorities to the emergency.
Firefighters from the Rijiyar Zaki Division were immediately deployed to the scene, where they discovered a petrol tanker conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) already engulfed in flames while offloading fuel.
According to him, the tanker, with registration number XPB 999 FA and owned by AA Ayagi Company, had discharged fuel from two compartments into an underground tank, while three remaining compartments containing about 5,000 litres were still being offloaded when the fire erupted.
“The inferno completely destroyed the tanker truck,” Abdullahi said.
He added that a second fire incident occurred at Al-Wahida Nigeria Limited Filling Station in Rimin Kebe Karshen Kwalta, Nassarawa Local Government Area.
The affected tanker, owned by BA Bello Company and bearing registration number KHX 29 XA, was reportedly conveying about 45,000 litres of petroleum products when the fire broke out during the discharge process.
“The fire destroyed the tanker head and part of the tanker body, as well as 17 tricycles parked nearby,” the spokesman disclosed.
He noted that firefighters succeeded in containing the blaze and prevented it from spreading to other facilities, while some petroleum products and sections of the tanker body were salvaged.
In a related incident, Abdullahi revealed that another fire outbreak occurred at Kundila Quarters near SALSA College, where one room, a toilet and a corridor of a residential building were razed.
Reacting to the developments, the Director of the Kano State Fire Service, Sani Anas, urged filling station operators and tanker drivers to strictly observe safety guidelines during fuel handling and offloading to avert avoidable disasters.