Another fire outbreak at Kumasi Central Market

The Kumasi Central Market, which has become synonymous with fire outbreaks, has been hit by another blaze.

Fire swept through parts of the sprawling market last Wednesday night, destroying large quantities of wax prints, sewing machines and their accessories in nine shops at the Kako Lane, popularly known as Ampratwum Lane. It was the fifth fire in the year.

No casualty
There was no casualty. Eyewitnesses said the timely intervention of fire fighters from the Manhyia Fire Station prevented the fire from spreading to other areas.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, eye witnesses, mostly security persons at the market, said the fire started from one of the nine shops around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

They said they quickly informed the police and fire personnel who came in quickly to battle the blaze.

Speaking to journalists after the fire had been brought under control, the leader of the Manhyia Fire Team, Mr John Danquah, could not pinpoint the cause of the fire but gave an assurance that the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) would conduct investigations into the incident.

Possible causes

Kumasi witnessed incessant power outages on Wednesday evening. An eyewitness of the fire outbreak, Mr Richard Bonsu, said he saw sparks of fire from one of the shops just after power was restored.

Madam Rebecca Antoh, a victim, could not control her tears when she saw that her shop had been reduced to ashes. She explained that the full stock of cloths she received at about 4.30 p.m. on that day were all burnt in the fire.

Recent fires

Recent devastating fires at the Kumasi Central Market have been blamed on naked fires from cooking in the market, improper electrical wiring, illegal electricity connection and incessant power outages.

In all cases, authorities lined up plans to ensure that the market did not experience the fire outbreaks again.