(Fire. Photo by 3News)
No fewer than eight out of eleven shops were destroyed by fire at No. 2, Mobolorunduro, Balaro Street, Oju-Odo Academy in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State on Wednesday.
The Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Fire Reform and state Chairman of the Fire Services Agency, Moroof Akinwande, confirmed the incident in a statement released in Ibadan.
According to him, the Oyo State Fire Services Agency received a distress call at exactly 2:33 a.m.
On Wednesday, June 3, 2026, from a Mr. Idris reporting a fire at the address. Fire personnel led by PFS11 Ojo promptly mobilised to the scene, where they discovered that eight of the eleven shops in a row had been severely affected.
The fire was swiftly brought under control, preventing it from spreading further to the remaining shops and neighbouring properties.
No casualties were recorded, and the fire crew returned safely to their station by 4:29 a.m. and resumed operational standby. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
Akinwande used the opportunity to appeal to the public to remain fire-conscious at all times, stressing the importance of installing fire extinguishers in every commercial building as a first line of defence against fire outbreaks at their earliest stage.
According to reports making rounds on social media, this latest incident is part of a troubling pattern of fire outbreaks in the state.
In September 2025, a fire destroyed 14 shops at Ogundipe Market in Ibadan North Local Government Area, and just months later in December 2025, another devastating blaze gutted eight shops beside the Sango Police Divisional Headquarters in the same local government area.
An eyewitness at the scene, identified as Bukola Ogundeji, said she was not a shop owner at the location but had come to visit, adding that the incident appeared to have started around 12:30 p.m. and that the root cause had not yet been determined at the time she spoke.