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A fire at a mini wood market at Akwatia Line in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region has destroyed properties and rendered slum dwellers homeless.
It is unclear what started the fire early Thursday but the fire crew is currently at the scene. Many wooden structures which serve as shops and homes for scrap dealers and head potters have been destroyed by the inferno.
“Many properties have been destroyed even wooden structures which houses head potters and scrap dealers have been destroyed.
“The fire service came they said there was no water in their vehicle and so they went back and brought other fire engines to douse the flame. A lot of stores have been destroyed”, an affected victim said.
Shop owners were left helpless as they watched their properties reduced to ashes.The incident affected the power supply around the area as the firefighters deployed to the scene raced to bring the situation under control.
Investigations
A fire commander with the Manhyia District, D. O 1 Amos Abban said: “We received a distress call at our Regional Headquarters at 08:44 hrs. When we arrived we realized that a wooden structure was engulfed and had entered other structures.
“Upon our initial assessment we saw that one fire engine cannot help us so we communicated back to our control and three fire engines were deployed to help us douse the blaze,” he told Asaase News.
“Currently we are investigating to know what caused the fire…”, the fire officer said adding: “We have to be careful with the way we handle fire especially in the harmattan”.
Accessibility challenge
“The shop owners had arranged the wood such that our engines couldn’t get closer to the seat of the fire”, D.O 1 Amos Abban stated.
He implored the Municipal Assembly to decongest such areas to help battle such emergency situations.
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