A 30-year-old man, identified as Suraja Muhammad was on Sunday suffocated by smoke during a fire incident at the popular Vitafoam store located on Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kano.
Confirming the tragedy via a press statement on Monday, the Kano State Fire Service spokesman, ACFO Saminu Yusif Abdullahi, said: “On Sunday, January 19, 2025, at about 18:30 hrs, the state fire service control room received an emergency call from one of our staff members, SFS Idris Isah Charo, informing of a fire incident at Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Yan Kafifa Fagge LGA.
“Shortly after receiving the distress call, the crew on duty from different fire stations within the metropolitan city of Kano were mobilised to the scene of the incident but the victim was conveyed to the hospital for medical attention before the arrival of our men.
“On arrival at the scene of the incident at about 18:34 hrs, our firefighters discovered that a house, popularly known as Gidan Alhaji Muhammadu, Mai Katifa, about 100 x 100 ft, used as a mattress store, known as Vitaform Plaza, caught fire from the last floor, which caused the burning of a mattress store, one shop and one toilet, which were all burnt to the upper floor.”
Thereafter, the statement disclosed that the fire spread to the first floor of the building alongside three shops and one toilet while the ground floor, including four shops and two toilets, was partially engulfed by fire.
Subsequently, the fire which spread to a neighbouring building only affected it partially.
At the close of the day, according to the statement, five jets from the state fire service were used to tackle the fire, while the cause of the incident and the estimated property lost were still under investigation.
