A part of the building housing the Dunukofia Local Government Area secretariat in Ukpo, Dunukofia, Anambra State, has been gutted by fire.

It was gathered that the fire outbreak, which occurred late on Wednesday, was a result of bush burning close to the local government secretariat.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that two separate fire outbreaks were also recorded at the Timber Market in Nnewi and behind the Sinai Gas Plant in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

The fire, which occurred at different times on Tuesday, raged for hours but was controlled by the intervention of the men of the Anambra State Fire Service.

The Anambra State Fire Chief, Martin Agbili, who confirmed Wednesday’s incident at the LG secretariat, said it started around 6:53 pm on Wednesday.

Agbili said, “At about 18:53hrs (6.53 pm) of Wednesday, Anambra State Fire Service, received a distress call of a heavy fire outbreak at Dunukofia.

“Immediately, we deployed our fire truck and gallant Firefighters to the scene of the fire and fought, controlled and extinguished the fire.

“The cause of the fire was a bush fire which was started by unknown person(s) and encroached into the local government council secretariat.

“During the firefighting operations, we were able to control and extinguish the fire and prevent it from destroying a lot of things at the local government council.

“We withdrew from the fire scene at about 20:30hrs after fighting the fire to a standstill and calming the situation.

“It is also important that we clear all bushes around our environment, especially at this dry season and harmattan, to avoid ‘had I known’. Fire kills but you can prevent it.”