Property estimated at N38.8 million were destroyed by a fire that razed two residential buildings in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, on Saturday morning.

The fire outbreak, Daily Trust learnt, started at midnight around 12:31 am from a paint shop located around Balogun Afin, Ita-Kure Area of Ilorin.

According to residents, the fire service exhausted two big water trucks and battled the inferno for several hours.

The spokesman of Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle who confirmed the incident in a telephone chat with our correspondent, said a one-storey building and a bungalow beside the paint shop were gutted in the process.

Adekunle who attributed the cause to a power surge said the chemical content in the burning materials aided the fire which 'destroyed over N38.8 million worth of property while N52.5 million property were saved'.

�Aside from the two residential buildings destroyed by the fire, five other shops in the vicinity were affected. Firemen were able to extinguish the fire and prevent it from escalating to the adjacent buildings. It was a huge fire and the extent of the damage was the chemical content of the burning materials and the late call by the sympathisers,� Adekunle said.