About six shops were reportedly razed on Friday when an inferno engulfed shops at Kofar Wanbai market in Kano State.

This was disclosed on Saturday by Saminu Abdullahi, the spokesman for the state fire service, who said the inferno started at about 9:43 p.m. at Babban Layi, Yan Robobi section.

He stated that the emergency response unit received a distress call from one of the service’s staff members, Principal Fire Superintendent Usman Idris Fagge, who reported the incident.

Mr Abdullahi said firefighters from various fire stations immediately responded and rushed to the scene.

“Upon arrival, they discovered that approximately six houses, identified as Gidan Alhaji Sani, Gidan Sani Muhammad, Gidan Alhaji Kwa Kwa, Gidan Alhaji Shafi’u, and Gidan Alhaji Sulaiman, were affected by the fire,” he said.

He stressed that the affected building, which consisted of two floors and measured approximately 120 x 125 feet, was being used as plastic shops and storage facilities.

“The fire affected two shops on the ground floor, two shops on the first floor, six stores, and four temporary stores on the upper floor, all of which were well alight.

“The fire started from the upper floor before spreading to the first and ground floors,” he noted.

According to him, firefighters from the service headquarters, Rijiyar Zaki, Sabon Gari, Government House and Bompai fire stations successfully contained the fire and prevented it from spreading to other parts of the market.

Mr Abdullahi said the cause of the fire was traced to a solar system.