Residents of coastal communities in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State on Wednesday raised the alarm of a looming fire outbreak in their communities after an oil spill from a major trunk line.They lamented that the oil spill which occurred in the area on August 17, 2016, had forced scores of persons to flee their homes, calling on the Federal Government to avert the looming danger.The spill affected communities which include Ikpokpo, Tebujor, Okpeleama, Opuede, Opude-Zion, Opuedebubor, Meka-Ama, Oto-Gbene, Atanba, and Okerenkoko-Gbene in the Warri South West LGA.In a letter to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the community called for sanctions for operators of the pipeline.The petition, which was signed by a lawyer, Eldridge Emekawovie, read in part, “Crude oil has been gushing out from the ruptured point, especially when pumped through the trunk line. The crude has spilled into the communities with people suffocating from the gas content contained in the oil.“If urgent steps are not taken to arrest the situation, these communities may be engulfed by massive fire outbreak which may lead to death of innocent people.”The communities demanded that operators should be sanctioned for failing to report the spillage to the regulator as required by the law.“They should be fined N500,000 or N1m every day for the violation from August 17, 2016, till when they comply with the law” the letter added.