Vehicles, shops burnt in early morning inferno [PHOTOS]

An early morning inferno in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State has consumed cars and buildings in the area, witnesses say.

The fire was able to spread rapidly due to the failure of fire service officials to arrive the scene on time.

“We received the alert around 12:58am and we swung into action. Unfortunately it was a late action. When we heard it, we thought it was a pipeline fire. We deployed fire service to the area. We were able to contain it," spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said.

14 vehicles and many shops and houses were reportedly lost to the inferno.

However, no lives were lost in the incident.