Fire destroys properties at Suame
A section of used tyre dealers around Club 600 area in Kumasi became the latest victims of incessant fire outbreaks that have been engulfing the Kumasi Metropolis and other parts of the country in recent times.
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About 10 businessmen and women who sell used tyres around Club 600, off the Suame Roundabout-Tafo road, had their containers burnt to ashes during the early hours of Thursday.
The fire which started around 5: 03am caught one of the containers believed to have belonged to a trader who charges car batteries, spread quickly to the other containers.
According to eye witnesses, smoke was detected from the container and in some seconds, the container was caught by fire. It was then that an alarm was raised.
They said it took five fire tenders close to an hour to bring the fire under control, preventing it from spreading to other containers close by.
When Daily Graphic visited the site around 8am, victims were seen in groups bemoaning their predicament as they tried to estimate the cost of goods that the fire had consumed.
While officials from the Ghana National Fire Service could not immediately tell the cause of the fire, some of the shop owners believed that a power outage in the area could have sparked the fire when electricity to the area was restored.
One of the eye witnesses who gave his name as Kwaku Charles told the Daily Graphic that since the batteries were always on charge, it was possible that the batteries may have caught fire when the power came back.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Divisional Officer from the Suame Garages Fire Station, Richard Aweso told Daily Graphic that it was their quick response to an emergency call that made it possible to contain the fire.
He said in all, five fire tenders responded to the emergency call which took an hour to bring under control.
Mr. Aweso could not immediately tell the cause of the fire, but indicated that it was because of the combustible nature of the goods in the containers that caused the fire to spread quickly to nearby containers.
He said beside the used tyres in the shop, “some of the containers were also filled with gas cylinders, and other combustible substances, so they exploded and caused the fire to spread quickly”
Expressing concern about the menace of fire outbreaks in the country, Mr. Aweso said the public seems to have compromised ongoing fire safety education and therefore urged the public to make safety a priority to curb the menace.
“ If we appreciate the fact that we get our daily bread from the markets and shops, then it is important to take precautionary measures to prevent fire outbreaks” he advised.
By George Ernest Asare/Daily Graphic/Ghana
