The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) has called on the Ghana National Fire Service(GNS) to close down shops which fail to participate in community fire training and education and also sanction those who fail to avail themselves for audit on electrical wiring.
The BPS’ suggestion comes after a fire outbreak razed over 200 shops destroying goods worth thousands of cedis, at Kantamanto in Accra on Tuesday, November 29.
The Chief of Party at the Bureau of Public Safety, Nana Yaw Akwada, speaking in an interview noted that, the Ghana National Fire Service must intensify its public education on fire safety and hold traders accountable. He also rebuked city authorities for failing to properly structure market centers in the cities.
Despite the fact that several shops and properties were destroyed by the fire, the Ghana National Fire Service were able to douse it after several hours to prevent further loss.
Parts of the Kantamanto market in Accra were destroyed by fire. The incident on Tuesday morning destroyed many goods and shops worth millions of cedis. It is not clear yet what caused the inferno but tmore than seven fire tenders dispatched to deal with the fire did not have it easy.
Traders who were severely affected shared their emotions with the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery; the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare; and the Chief Fire Officer, who were all present to assess the extent of damage at the market.
Earlier Intel About Fire Outbreak
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Ghana Used Clothes Dealers Association, Edward Atobrah, disclosed that the Association received intelligence last week about Tuesday’s fire outbreak.
Speaking in an interview hours after the incident occurred, Edward Atobrah stated that unfortunately the information did not identify the exact location at which the fire outbreak was to take place.
“A week earlier we had information that the market was going to burn so we did not know exactly where and unfortunately it happened.”
Mr Atobrah
Mr Atobrah explained that the Association upon receiving the intelligence tried to disregard such an occurrence. According to him, their focus was rather on the bigger side of the market, least suspecting the side of the market which suffered the fire.
Currently, investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the fire and the actual value of goods and property destroyed by the fire.
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