Fire destroys goods at Kantamanto Market

Accra, Sept. 23, GNA - Fire gutted the second hand clothing dealers section at Kantamanto market in Accra on Monday night destroying goods worth several millions of Ghana cedis belonging to traders.

However, there were no casualties.

The fire which began at about 8:15 pm spread through the market and by 11:30 pm it was still raging on.

Mr Agyarko Attobrah, Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Greater Accra Regional Commander of Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) told Ghana News Agency that his outfit received news about the fire outbreak very late. He said residents around the market tried to put out the fire but when it got out of hand, they alerted the fire personnel while it continued spreading to other areas.

Mr Attobrah was optimistic that with a workforce of 30 fire personnel, four fire tenders and two water tankers the fire could be controlled.

He advised shop owners to acquire portable fire extinguishers to enable them save their property during fire outbreak.

Mr Attobrah said shop owners should ensure only qualified electricians undertake the wiring of their shops with the appropriate electrical cables and change them periodically to prevent fire outbreak from faulty electrical cables.

He called on authorities of the market to provide good access to facilitate operations by fire personnel during fire outbreak. Mr Attobrah appealed to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, to enact bye-laws to make it compulsory for shop owners to acquire portable fire extinguishers.

He said cause of the fire was not known and gave the assurance that it would be investigated, but an eyewitness account told GNA that it suspected an electrical fault.