The people of the Bille kingdom in Degema local government area of Rivers State are gripped by fear following a major fire outbreak at Opu-Dah, Community Town Square, reportedly triggered by persistent gas seepage in the area.
The incident that occurred on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, followed months of unusual bubbling and gas emissions from a mono pump in the community.
According to sources, the fire outbreak left several people injured, two victims sustaining serious burns and are currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
An eyewitness, Timothy Agubiade, told our correspondent that the fire erupted from one of the long-observed bubbling points in the Opu-dah compound area of Bille. He explained that the community had been experiencing gas emissions for over six months, with visible boiling and bubbling at different locations.
“What I witnessed was a serious fire coming out from the bubbling point. The bubbling points are the points that have been boiling, bubbling, and emitting gas in Bille Kingdom. This gas has been coming out for over six months”.
“One of those points is at a community in Bille called Opu-dah compound, it was in Opu-dah that this fire incident happened.
I do not want to speculate beyond what I saw; the fire was coming out from that boiling spot. It was an old mono pump, ” That has been abandoned for years”, he said.
Agubiade noted that residents made frantic efforts to contain the inferno using improvised materials, including soaked duvets, rugs, and blankets, eventually bringing the fire under control.
“People began to struggle to put the fire out, so much effort was put in, people were coming with different things to put out the fire, such as soaked duvets, rugs, and blankets. At the end, the fire was put out”.
Also Read: http://Five Dismissed, Three Facing Trial Over Alleged Armed Robbery
“However, some were injured a handful of persons were taken to the clinic for treatment. But about two of them had major injuries, and they are still receiving treatments”, he said.
He lamented that the incident had thrown the community into fear and panic, raising serious concerns about the safety of lives, property, and the environment.
“Even as I speak, people are genuinely concerned, frightened, so many are still confused. We still hope and pray that something more than this does not happen anytime soon”, he said.
Reacting to the incident, Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, said his organisation had previously alerted and warned that Bille Kingdom is “sitting on a keg of gunpowder”.
Fyneface called on the Federal Government to suspend extant laws that may delay actions to address the situation in Bille Kingdom and declare a State of Emergency. Noting that the scale and duration of the gas leaks require urgent executive action to protect residents and prevent possible loss of life.
He demands that the people of Bille be temporarily relocated from the gas-polluted areas immediately to prevent further inhalation of gas and other hydrocarbon-related chemicals by residents. As well as possible impending larger fire incidents triggered by cooking and other domestic activities that could consume the entire kingdom and its people if immediate action is further delayed.
Fyneface further demands that the government should urgently deploy. Station marine fire service units and patrol tugboats from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Navy firefighting unit in Bille Kingdom and its environs to respond to any further fire outbreaks and mitigate disasters in the riverine community. At the same time, steps are taken to stop the leaking and bubbling of gas in the Kingdom.
He, however, called for Relief Response from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), as the ongoing disaster in Bille Kingdom requires its attention. He added that the agency should urgently rise to the occasion and distribute relief materials to affected households in Bille to cushion the impact of the ongoing disaster.
