Over 400 Apagya residents homeless after fire
About 400 dwellers of Apagya Dagombaline near Asawase in the Asokore-Mampong Municipality in the Ashanti Region were last Thursday night left homeless after their wooden structures were ravaged by fire.
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The fire, which started a few minutes after 7 p.m., consumed the entire area and burnt everything on its way, rendering the dwellers there homeless.
Properties worth hundreds of Ghana cedis were destroyed in the fire which lasted for about two hours.
There were, however, no casualties.
The place, which could be described as a slum, is inhabited by mainly scrap dealers and head porters popularly known as ‘kayayei.’
Although the cause of the fire is yet to be determined, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) suspects that it could have been caused by a lit candle which was left unattended to.
Residents
Some of the residents claimed to have lost all their savings in the fire and appealed to philanthropists to come to their aid.
During a visit to the scene by the Daily Graphic, some of the residents were seen going through the debris to salvage whatever they could lay their hands on.
Lack of access
The Ashanti Regional Fire Commander, Mr Semekor Fiadzo, said even though fire personnel responded to the distress call on time, lack of access to the place made the rescue effort a bit difficult for the fire service personnel.
According to him, the dry weather also helped in spreading the fire.
He said it took his men about one-and-half hours to bring the fire under control.
He appealed to residents to be extra careful, especially during the current dry season.