More than 25 shops were gutted by fire at “Alabar Frenchline” a popular trading centre in the Kumasi metropolis on Sunday destroying goods worth thousands of Ghana cedis.
Among items ravaged by the fire were bags of salt, spices, medical products and clothing.
It was quite a scene as shop owners could not control their tears, while personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) had it tough controlling the fire.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times later, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Fire Commander, Divisional Officer Grade One (DO1) Rashid Missaw, said investigations into the fire incident had begun as the actual cause of the fire remained unknown.
DO1 Missaw said it took five fire tenders and dozens of fire officials to douse off the flames.
Unfortunately due to the makeshift layout, he said firefighters did not have access to the epicenter of the fire, making it difficult for them to stop it almost immediately.
But, some of the eyewitnesses Ghanaian Times interacted with claimed the fire was as a result of an electrical fault.
They said the fire was started in one of the shops and spread to others in the process destroying their wares, but were able to salvage a few.
But, for the intervention of officials from the fire service to prevent the situation from escalating, the situation would have been very horrific, the witnesses indicated.
Some affected victims recounted their losses during the interaction.
A victim, Kojo Abeam, said “I heard about the fire and rushed to the market to try and salvage some of my wares, but I couldn’t pick anything from my shop because the fire had already destroyed everything.”
Another victim, Akua Konadu, indicated, “I have restocked my shop with wares worth thousands of cedis. I bought some with my own money and others on credit, and now I have lost them all.”
Mr Samuel Pyne, Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), visited the scene on Monday to commiserate with the victims.
He encouraged them to look into the future with hope adding that “when there is life there is always a way”.
He urged them not to allow the calamity that had befallen them to discourage them from fighting on in life and with business in order to meet their respective goals.
The ‘Mayor’ advised the general public to be mindful of the harmattan and not do things that would not occasion incidents of fire.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI