Fire guts several structures at Nkrumah Circle

Incidents of fire are raising questions about the capacity of the GNFS.

A victim and a fire officer speak to Joy News© Copyright myjoyonline

Fire has razed to the ground several structures at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

The blaze torched about 10 wooden and metal kiosks along the big Odaw gutter behind the Neoplan Station, destroying several properties.

Eyewitnesses said the inferno was caused by a lump of fire which had been dropped on a refuse dump close to a wooden kiosk there.

The structure is said to have lighted up around 3:00 am on Sunday but shortly spread its fire via electrical cables that connected it to the other structures.

Billows of smoke rose into the air as helpless by-standers watched on. Some workers of the main GPRTU office at the Madina station – which was the most affected – attempted to put out the inferno with sachets of water but their effort was to no avail.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were on hand but it was almost too late as most of the structures had already been reduced to ashes.

The fire officers said they were initially constrained in extinguishing the fire as the burning structures carried live wires and attempts to reach the Electricity Corporation to cut power to the area were unsuccessful.

In the heat of events, kiosk owners who feared loosing their wares broke into them and managed to haul out as many items as they could from it.

Vehicles which were packed close to the gutter were also moved into the streets leading to the station.

The inferno comes barely five days after another one at the 10-storey Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline