A fuel-laden tanker burst into flames on Sunday evening at A.A Rano filling station in Hannun Riga, near General Hospital, Kontagora, the headquarters of Kontagora Local Government Area (LGA) in Niger State.
The incident, which occurred around 7pm during the offloading of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, raised fears of further escalation as other fuel storage tanks at the station still contained fuel.
Eyewitnesses reported that the fire broke out suddenly, causing panic among residents and passers-by. However, no casualties were recorded, but many people fled the scene for safety.
Following the incident, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has urged filling station owners to strengthen fire safety measures.
The Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Unit, Mr Chinedu Anyaso, stressed the importance of fire extinguishers, sand buckets, and fire safety signage at all filling stations.
Anyaso also called for training on handling fire incidents and emphasised the need to offload petroleum products during cooler hours of the day.
“The training includes how to ensure that the content of the fire extinguishers do not leak due to poor handling and storage as well as to know when a fire extinguisher expires.
“They will also be exposed to other necessary things to implement in case of a fire incident within a filling station.
“We recorded a fire incident in a filling station outlet in a remote area of the state caused by answering a phone call close to a pump nozzle dispensing fuel in a filling station in January,” he said.
IPMAN is now working with the Federal Fire Service to educate station attendants on fire prevention and response to minimise losses from future incidents.
