N30m property destroyed in Enugu college fire

There was pandemonium on the premises of the Peaceland College of Education, Enugu as fire gutted some parts of the school’s female hostel.

The institution is located opposite the Matured Students Programme (MSP) of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), near the popular Nkpokiti Junction, at Independence Layout, Enugu.

Students scampered in different directions as the fire raged.

Eyewitnesses said the blaze started from an appliance which a student left on and went to class.

Though, no life was lost in the inferno, it was gathered from the some staff of the college that the fire destroyed the roofs, ceilings, windows and beddings among others on the top floor worth over N30 million.

It was also gathered that the fire destroyed some certificates and other documents of the students such as OND certificates and other credentials of the students.

It took the intervention of men of the Enugu State Fire Service to prevent the fire from razing down the entire hostel and other classroom blocks.

The fire started on the top floor of one of the major hostel blocks.

One of the students said, “We were in our different classes when we suddenly heard the sound of explosion and when we went out to find out, we saw fire coming out from one of the rooms in the hostel.

“Some of us, especially HND students came to school with our OND certificates because we were told that there would be verification by people from Abuja. Those certificates were razed by the fire”.

A senior staff member of the college, who preferred anonymity, told journalists that the destruction in the school was huge.

“Though, no student was in the room where the fire started, but we suspect that somebody might have plugged a device and forgot to put it off.

“As a result we lost a lot. The roofing, the ceilings, a lot of things up there. In fact we cannot put a figure to the destruction. But we really lost property worth over N30 million to that fire.

“But we thank the men of the Enugu State Fire Service. Without them, the entire buildings here would have gone up in flames,” the official said.

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