Fire at ERA Supermarket

Raging fire has gutted the ERA Supermarket in the Monrovia suburb of 16th Street, Sinkor – leaving many residents and passers- by in panic, while others struggled to off the flames. There was no casualty reported up to press time last evening.

However, narrating to this paper Tuesday, 13 September near the scene, a female guard of the private firm White Water Security – Naomi Bundor assigned at a nearby local filling station Aminata, said the flames started at about 2:30 pm when she noticed blaze from an electrical wire that connects to the generator room of the ERA Supermarket.

“As soon as I saw the fire, I ran to inform the security officer, who was on post at the supermarket that there was fire coming from the generator room of the supermarket”, Officer Bundor added.

She continued that it was then others took notice of the fire and immediately alarmed, pleading for help.

“It was such a confusing situation that people who came around did not know what to do.” According to her, it took a while before the Liberia National Police arrived on the scene to help put things under control, detailing that as soon as the fire began, it quickly spread to other parts of the building, damaging goods and other properties.

“It could be due to an electrical fault,” the security officer noted, and continued, “Since there are electrical connections done in the area, I suspect strongly that it was due to something like that.”

Residents of 16th Street said the fire was so sudden that during the confusion, they exerted efforts to help to save some of the goods from damaging, but many people who came to assist, instead made away with some of the goods they brought out.

Fire fighters from the Liberia National Fire Service or LNFS arrived at the scene subsequently and off the flames.

The Deputy Director for Operation at the LN FS Alex K. Dickson, told reporters “We received a call by 3:00 pm from the EPS [Executive protective Service] from Matthew Cooper, informing us that there is a fire incident in Sinkor on 16th Street and immediately, our team was dispatched to the scene to put the fire under control.”

Mr. Dickson said his men were still carrying out preliminary investigation to establish the cause of the fire.
“But what I saw with my eyes, I think they lost lot of properties that I who here cannot give figure to. We have an emergency number that most people don’t know, and this is something that people need to find in order to get us quickly whenever there is an incident involving fire”, the deputy fire chief emphasized. Editing by Jonathan Browne