Tragedy was on Saturday averted at the Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State headquarters, as a strange fire outbreak engulfed the secretariat.
This was even as one person whose identify had yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report had been arrested by the security Agency in connection with the inferno.
A source in the secretariat who spoke to our correspondent on Sunday on a strict condition of anonymity said that the fire outbreak which started around 4pm lasted for two hours.
According to him, the council workers had been surprised when a fire outbreak from a tick bush housing the secretariat engulfed the secretariat, causing the people raise an alarm.
He disclosed that the outbreak which started slowly immediately took over the entire secretariat and was about engulfing the administrative bloc of the Council before the youths of Nkwerre autonomous community embarked on a rescue mission.
The source said that the youths together with security operatives battled with the ragging fire for two hours before they could subdue it with the aide of water and detergents.
According to him, fences, some structures and other properties of the Government were lost in the fire incident.
When contacted on the telephone, the Transition committee Chairman of the LGA, Barrister Paschal Onwukaike, said that the fire incident was orchestrated by some indigenes of the community who were doing bush burning for the the year’s farming year.
He told our correspondent that the himself, some of his staff members and together with the youths of the community responded quickly by bringing the outbreak to control.
Onwukaike, who confirmed that no documents were lost in the incident, said that the women development center building in the secretariat and the fence housing it were affected by the inferno.
