Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
An early morning fire which gutted and destroyed the two studios of the Bayelsa Broadcasting Service, Radio Bayelsa has forced the station to go off air.
The Breakfast Show was on air when the fire started from the transmitter and spread to the studio and the accounts department.
“The breakfast show was on when there was a sound like explosion; suddenly the lights in the studio went off. We thought it was normal power failure until we heard sounds like big rats moving in the ceilings.
“This made us to rush out to see what was happening. It was then we realised that the studio was already burning from the top.”
It was an Herculean task for men of the Bayelsa State Fire Service to contain the fire as there was only driver on duty in the morning who had to drive two trucks one after the other.
The fire spread to the second studio and the accounts department due to the leaking hose of the fire service which allowed the waters to leak.
Some government officials, including the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson the General Manager of the station, John Idumage, the Special Adviser Events, Abuja, Ono Akpe, Senior Special Assistant, Ekio Benson, were among early callers at the station.
Idumage, however, said the management would probe the root cause of the fire as there are suspicion that it could be sabotage.
According to him, the sound of an explosion before the fire could be that some aggrieved individuals not happy with some recent decisions of the management could be behind plans to sabotage the station.