Date: 2017-01-12

There was uneasy calm at the AM Station of Kwara State Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Kwara on Police Road, GRA in Ilorin last night when a mysterious inferno gutted a garden belonging to the station.

The cause of the fire incident, which occurred around 6:45pm, could not be immediately ascertained.

It was gathered that the management of the Radio station had planned to turn the garden to a resort centre in view of the present economic reality.

A staff of the station, who craved anonymity told our correspondent that a staff noticed the ranging fire and quickly fetched water from the borehole within the premises to quench the fire.

It was, however, learnt that the fire kept escalating in spite of attempts made to put it out.

The staff said some staff who were still around were quickly alerted on the incident, prompting distressed call to the men of the state Fire Service.

"We can't say this is exactly what caused the fire. We just discovered that the fire strangely emerged and a staff noticed and tried to quench it. But despite the series of attempts he made trying to use buckets of water he fetched from the borehole, the fire could not be quenched, rather it got escalated.

"It was at that point that he alerted other staff who were still around and that was the reason they quickly alerted the men of State Fire Service and they responded promptly. But we thank Almighty God that they were able to contain the fire.

"Everybody here was still trying to ascertain the cause of the fire, and up till this moment can say this is what caused it. And concerning this place (the garden), the management had planned to turn it to a resort centre so that they can generate money from it", the staff said.

When our correspondent visited the scene around 7:10pm, the fire fighters were seen battling the fire while it was put out around 7:30pm.