Fire destroys 21 shops at Abuja furniture market

Thick smoke billows into the air as the scene is engulfed in a haze. Photo: NEMA

Twenty-one shops and a vehicle were destroyed in a fire that broke out at the Kugbo Furniture Market in Abuja on Friday.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that no lives were lost in the incident, while emergency responders recovered some valuables from the affected shops and prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the market.

The National Emergency Management Agency confirmed the incident in a statement issued by its Abuja Operations Office Press Unit on Friday.

The agency said its Emergency Response and Ambulance Bay received a distress call about the fire at about 11:15 am, prompting the mobilisation of the Federal Fire Service and other emergency response stakeholders to the scene.

NEMA responders assisted with crowd control and supported firefighters in containing the blaze.

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According to the agency, the fire was successfully dampened to prevent secondary outbreaks and further spread.

Emergency operations at the scene ended at about 1:40 pm.

NEMA said it remained committed to supporting affected communities and coordinating emergency response operations with relevant stakeholders.

Princess Etuk is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over five years of experience covering national development and the economy. She focuses on public policy, infrastructure, agriculture, and related sectors, producing insightful features and exclusive reports. Princess’s work reflects a strong commitment to accountability journalism, sectoral development reporting, and informed public dialogue.

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