Sodom & Gomorrah ravaged by fire

By Bernice Bessey
The biggest slum in the Accra Metropolis, Old Fadama, popularly known as Sodom & Gomorrah, was on Monday consumed by ravaging fire, destroying properties worth thousands of Cedis, while displacing hundreds of squatters.

The incident, which happened close to the Odaw River, left the stranded squatters in tears, with a few busily salvaging their belongings.

According to an eyewitness, the fire started around 7:00 a.m. while many of the residents who were merely head porters had left to conduct business in the various markets and lorry stations in the metropolis.

Timely intervention by the Ghana Fire Service prevented the raging fire from spreading to other parts of the community. The source of the fire was immediately not known.

Although some residents complained of casualties, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Commander of the Ghana Fire Service, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) P. K. Donkor, explained that his outfit, in collaboration with the police, could only establish any casualty and the source of the fire after investigations.

'The fire could be attributed to several instances such as illegal electricity connections, overloading of circuit plugs, and leaving pieces of fire unattended and keeping explosive materials in the houses. But until investigations are concluded, I cannot really tell what really set the place ablaze,' he noted.

ACFO P. K. Donkor said the fire outbreak in the area had become to be an annual ritual that his outfit would have to battle with to save lives and properties.

He added that education on fire prevention was ongoing for people to refrain from overloading their circuits in order to prevent future fire outbreaks.

He, however, outlined the difficulties his men went through before putting the fire off, stressing that they had a hell of time preventing the squatters from using all manner of things in their attempt to quench the fire.

'The people were not allowing us to fight the fire. Meanwhile, we are the professionals. We fight fire from the root cause, but the people don't understand why we are fighting fire at areas that are not caught up with the fire,' he complained.

He said there were some explosions while fighting the fire, which he believed, was gas or other explosive materials.

The fire chief, therefore, advised the people in the area to refrain from putting up wooden structures, since it aided fire outbreaks.