By Bida Elly David
A devastating fire outbreak occurred at petrol station in Wau town, the capital of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State, destroying two offices and two cars.
The acting police commissioner of WBGs, Maj. Gen. Simon Yasi, told No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper via phone from Wau that the incident transpired on at 3:00 p. m on Wednesday.
According to the police commissioner, the source of the fire remains unknown.
“The fire did not cause any casualties against citizens in the town, only burning two offices and the two cars belonging to the owner of the petrol station,” he said.
“We called the owner of the petrol station to come and give a clear reason why the fire caught the patrol station, but he was never clear,” he stated.
“As for now, we don’t really know the cause of the fire outbreak, but we are still investigating how it erupted, and afterwards, we will call the owner again to give us reasons behind the fire,” he continued.
Maj. Gen. Yasi further noted that the fire was contained from escalating to surrounding residential and installations in the circumference of the petrol station.
“There is a market. It would have been risky if the civil defense never rushed to put out the flames,” he noted.
Simon emphasized that Wau is totally at risk with numerous petrol stations established near market areas and schools.
He echoed that they have severally discussed the risk of establishing petrol stations near areas of livelihood, saying actions will soon be taken.
The police commissioner said they will have a security meeting this week to brainstorm on the issue of the petrol stations.
“In our daily or weekly security meetings, we reported that patrol stations must not be allocated within the area because of incidents like what happened on Wednesday, especially in areas where there is a market, which can harm people,” he stated.
Maj. Gen. Yasi stressed that they recommend petrol stations be far from the areas where people are living.
Last year, the national minister of petroleum, Puot Kang Chol warned against construction of fuel stations near residential areas, markets, hospitals, and schools.
He said, apart from the risk of fire, there are pollutions against citizens caused by gases produced by the fuel.