THE COST OF MAINTENANCE

While coming back from the market day before yesterday in the evening, I saw a black smoke rising from somewhere not far from the road shoulder, with people, mostly young folks and women rushing towards the direction of the smoke. Obviously, some thing was wrong somewhere, and perhaps and accident, most likely, a fire outbreak, I expected.

I was still inside Adaidaita Sahu then, and luckily, just few meters to where I'm supposed to drop, so I decided to allow a space for one of the bulky stranded passengers standing hopelessly by the road to kick in, and of course to go and confirm my expectation.

As I approached the scene, my expectation is already confirmed. It was a fire outbreak! But this outbreak must have recently started, and thanks be to God that we have a local fire service station close to us, and it will take them less than ten or fifteen minutes to arrive, so this will be control in a matter of few minutes, yes it will be controlled! I sighed in presumption.

As I moved  closer, I observed that the fire was beyond what I initially thought, it must have started somewhat beyond what I expected. But my other half of presumption was proved to be correct, the fire service truck was already there, it has arrived in few minutes of the accident.  

But people where still pouring water in the blazing flame using buckets and other domestic apparatus, but the fire was too big to be controlled that way. I was shocked by that, what must have these guys been doing since? 

I asked myself as I push to move forward amidst the heavy crowd toward the truck to observe.

"It has arrived since, and it's full water but the pump to be used in pumping the water is not working, it has not been working, it's very old, one of the fire service guys even said it was there since before he was born..."  A guy was telling another curious observer like me, and that's the truth of what make the fire worse. If not because if the malfunctioned pump it would have been controlled minutes before I have arrived.

It took us about half an hour of standing in dismay, looking at the house burning and little effort done by some few courageous of us to stop the fire proved abortive, until finally, a federal fire service truck arrived.

 A serious rehabilitation to need to be done to Kano state fire service board, imagine how a simple lack of maintenance has cost the lost of a lots of properties, and it would have even cost life. Imagine if the outbreak was in the midnight!