Fire at Techiman Central Market affects 700 shops
A Wildfire that caught part of the Techiman Central Market, one of the biggest markets in the West Africa sub-region, has destroyed several properties.
The huge flame of fire swept through the middle part of the market, destroying about 700 shops containing goods worth millions of cedis.
The cause of the fire, which occurred last Sunday night, is yet to be identified by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
700 shops
The Bono East Regional Commander of the GNFS, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Grade II, Naomi Ofori Adubea, estimated that about 700 shops had been burnt.
The GNFS had to bring additional fire tenders from Kintampo, Nkoranza and Wenchi to support personnel of the GNFS in Techiman to control the fire.
It took the combined team of GNFS from the Bono and Bono East regions several hours to control the fire, which was spreading fast.
Congestion
ACFO II Adubea expressed concern about the congested nature of the market, as well as the limited number of fire tenders in the region.
She said the congestion and inadequate fire tenders in the region delayed the fire personnel from stopping the fire from spreading.
ACFO II Adubea said despite the challenges, the personnel worked hard to quickly bring the fire under control.
"The challenge in accessing the market hindered the work and also, we had to fall on other tenders from Kintampo, Wenchi and Nkoranza to assist in the task," she said.
ACFO II Adubea admonished the traders to be conscious about their safety and that of their goods as one mistake could ruin all their investments.
She said the authorities had launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Dejected traders
Hundreds of dejected traders at the market, whose shops were consumed, have started counting their losses after the fire had been doused.
Foodstuff, grains, spices and traditional herbal medicine traders were the most affected.
Other items destroyed were sacks, clothes and boxes of chemicals.
Eyewitnesses
Some eyewitnesses who spoke about the incident said it started around 10 pm and spread quickly to destroy other shops.
An affected trader, Diana Appiah, said she was called and informed about the incident late at night.
"I was in the house when I received a call that the market was on fire. I quickly informed my brother, and we rushed to the market because we had a shop nearby.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't salvage anything. We lost all our items. We have lost millions of Ghana cedis worth of goods," she recounted.