A one-storey residential building, located at Udensi Street, in Abakaliki metropolis was Friday, gutted by fire.
Although there were no casualties, residents say they loss of belongings to the inferno is hard to take.
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Neighbours claim the fire outbreak may have been caused by a surge in the electricity supply to the area, which occurred at about noon.
A victim, Chinedu Nwagba laments that he could not salvage even a pin from his apartment due to the intensity of the raging fire.
Volunteers and sympathisers who battled to put out the fire, blamed the huge losses and damage to the building on the late response of men of the State Fire Service after a distress call.
The Comptroller of the Ebonyi State Fire Service, Raphael Ibiam who was at the scene, denied the allegations, insisting that his Agency was not to be blamed.
Ibiam is advising citizens to always put off their electrical appliances after use to avert the occurrence of this kind of incidents.
