A major fire outbreak on Tuesday evening, December 30, 2025, razed the second-hand clothes section of Arena Market in the Bolade area of Oshodi, Lagos, destroying no fewer than five 40-foot containerized shops and leaving traders counting heavy losses.

The blaze, which sparked panic among traders and residents, was reported to have started from one of the container shops stocked with bales of second-hand clothes. By the time firefighters arrived, the fire had spread rapidly, fuelled by the highly flammable clothing materials.

A visit to the scene on Wednesday showed that the five 40-foot containers, arranged in two rows, housed at least 10 shops, all of which were completely burnt. Bales of clothes and other merchandise worth millions of naira were reduced to ashes.

“We were here when the fire started, but nobody knows exactly what caused it,” a trader who spoke with Mushines said. “Everything happened so fast. Before we could salvage anything, the fire had taken over.”

Opinions among traders differed on the possible cause of the inferno. While some alleged that an electrical spark may have triggered the fire, others dismissed the claim.

“This section does not use electricity or generators,” another trader argued. “That is why we are confused about how the fire started.”

It was gathered at the scene that investigations were ongoing to determine the exact cause of the incident as the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. 

The level of damage recorded was due to the large quantity of clothing materials in the shops, the timely response of the fire fighters successfully curtailed the fire from spreading to other parts of the market. 

The scale of loss was evident as devastated traders assessed the ruins of their businesses. A shop assistant, visibly shaken, recounted how his employer had just restocked before the incident happened. 

“Before the fire started, my boss just finished offloaded a 40-foot container with over 2,000 bales of clothes,” he said, pointing to the burnt containers. “Now everything is gone.”

As of the time of filing this report, firefighters were still on ground working to extinguish lingering flames in some of the affected shops, while traders appealed for support to recover from the devastating losses.