Fire destroys Sunyani Circuit Court and District Court B

A devastating fire has razed the Sunyani Circuit Court and District Court B, located within the Sunyani Municipal Assembly premises, in the early hours of Sunday.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown, although eyewitnesses say it started between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. Firefighters from the Sunyani Municipal Command responded to a distress call at about 3:19 a.m. and arrived at the scene at 3:27 a.m., eventually bringing the situation under control.

The inferno completely destroyed key facilities, including the registrar’s office, judges’ chambers, courtrooms, accounts office, bailiff section and vital court documents, all of which were burnt beyond recovery.

When officials visited the scene around 8:00 a.m., several authorities were present to assess the damage. They included the Bono Regional Minister, the Member of Parliament for Sunyani East, the Municipal Chief Executive, the Regional Fire Commander and the President of the Bono Ghana Bar Association.

Speaking to journalists, the Bono Regional Fire Commander, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Cecil Addo, revealed that firefighters faced significant challenges due to a lack of accessible water.

“All the fire hydrants around the area are dried, and we had to fall on a private facility from Baakonuaba to draw water to extinguish the fire,” he said.

He described the incident as unfortunate and called on the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to consider drilling boreholes to support firefighting efforts in future emergencies.

ACFO Addo explained that an additional fire tender from the Abesim Fire Station had to be deployed to support efforts after the initial response team struggled to contain the flames. He did not rule out arson but noted that investigations are ongoing.

The Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addai Akwaboah, assured that steps would be taken immediately to secure a temporary location for court operations.

Meanwhile, the President of the Bono Ghana Bar Association, Alexander Amponsah, appealed to members of the legal fraternity and court staff to remain calm as authorities work to restore operations.