Fire Destroys House At Darkuman, 30 People Displaced

Fire has completely destroyed a house and left 30 people displaced at Darkuman, a suburb of Accra. The incident which occurred around mid-day last Sunday, also resulted in the destruction of nearby structures including a communications centre, a salon and a beer bar that were in front of the house. Although no life was lost, properties worth millions of cedis and a large amount of cash were destroyed in the fire, which lasted less than an hour.

The intensity of the fire, which was fuelled by inflammable materials around the house, made it difficult for five fire tenders that were dispatched to the scene from saving the properties engulfed in the wild blaze. A large portion of the house was being used as a workshop and warehouse by a mattress and pillow maker who had filled the place with large bales of mattress material and cotton wool. Many believe that these could have increased the intensity of the blaze that threatened nearby houses.

Fire Service personnel and some volunteers assisted to evacuate hundreds of residents in the neighbourhood and their belongings to safety to prevent further destruction.

The landlady, Madam Ernestina Ackonor, told ADM that the nature of the fire gives them reason to believe that someone might have started it deliberately. "We don't understand how the fire suddenly started burning all over the place at the same time." She said most of the occupants of the house had gone to church at the time of the incident around 11.30 am. She said a passer-by alerted them about the fire that was burning at two different locations of the house. "My daughter and I immediately rushed outside to see what was happening and called for help from our neighbours to help in putting out the fire but it got worse and escalated and spread at a very fast rate around the house."

Madam Ackonor said at that moment, they attempted to save some of their belongings but could not because it was very dangerous and the fire could have trapped people getting near it. Fortunately, they managed to rescue a three month old baby from one of the rooms before the whole house was engulfed in the fire. "It all happened very quickly so we couldn't pick up anything at all."

The landlady said the compound house had eight single rooms and one chamber and hall which was being occupied by tenants and their families numbering about 25. She said there were about five others sleeping in the structures in front of the house. The items destroyed by the fire include TV sets, sewing machines, fridges, fans, wax prints, furniture, jewellery, clothes, important documents, among others, "which took us many years of toil and sacrifice to acquire".

One of the volunteers who assisted in putting out the fire, commended the Fire Service personnel for their prompt response to the SOS call. He said, "I've never seen the Fire Service respond so quickly. They got here within twenty minutes and did very well to prevent the fire from spreading to other houses".

He appealed to members of the community to take safety precautions to prevent the outbreak of fire resulting in the lost of property and investment. He also appealed to the Fire Service to intensify their campaign on fire prevention in order to raise awareness in the communities. The victims said they are appealing to NADMO and humanitarian organizations as well as churches and individuals to come to their aid with some assistance.