Fire destroys facilities at Maha Beach, Vision Beach resorts

Fire razed 18 luxury rooms of the iconic Maha Beach Resort in the Ellembelle District in the Western Region late last night. 

The blazing fire also destroyed 15 rooms of the Vision Beach Resort, an adjoining facility where the fire started.

The Maha Beach Resort is made predominantly of highly combustible rattan with a thatch roof that gives it a unique identity and local feel.

Firefighters stationed at the premises of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) gas processing plant at Atuabo got wind of the incident and rushed to the scene to prevent the fire from spreading further.

The fire destroyed the rooms together with all their furniture and fittings such as television sets, air-conditioners, refrigerators, and television sets among many other things. 
Preliminary investigations suggested that the fire may have started from the workers’ room of the nearby Vision Resort.

The District Fire Commander, DO2 Mark Hamilton, confirmed the incident.

At the Maha Resort, out of the 18 traditional thatch-roofed rooms, eight, which were the traditional thatch-roofed with wood raffia wood mixed, were destroyed, while the other 10 rooms, partially mixed with bricks, had all their wood attachments and thatch roofing destroyed.

The rooms' furnishing, air-conditioners, beds, furniture, television sets, fixtures and fittings, and sound systems, among many others, were completely razed by the fire.
 

Thatched roofing 

At the Vision Beach Resort, all 15 thatched-roofed rooms and furnishings were also destroyed before the arrival of the firefighters.

The District Fire Commander, DO2  Mark Hamilton, who confirmed the incident, said last Wednesday, at about 8 p.m., the fire service post at the Ghana Gas plant at Atuabo received a distress call from officials of a nearby gas terminal to report the outbreak.

 “When we got to the scene, we realised that the two beach facilities were gutted by fire — and we realised that the fire started from the Vision Beach Resort, which shares a wall with the Maha Beach Resort,” he said.

Mr Hamilton explained that because the resorts were roofed with thatch, as the fire raged, the wind carried the embers from the already engulfed rooms at the Vision Beach Resort to the thatch roofs of the Maha Beach Resort.

The embers immediately sparked a firestorm that destroyed 18 of the rooms and other auxiliary facilities at the Maha Beach Resort.

“I can confirm that at the Vision Resort, all 15 rooms have been completely burnt in addition to its kitchen, the reception and the workers' room where it all started,” he said.

Some residents said the incident, though unfortunate, must serve as a wake-up call to all within the gas processing enclave from Sanzule to Half Assini and that residents and commercial facilities in the areas must be extra cautious.

The fire service assured residents of its readiness and commercial facilities within the enclave of its switch response at all times and asked them to be extra vigilant to support the fire service.