Makola market fire reignites after 24 hours

The fire that swept through a shop complex at the Makola market has presumably reignited after 24 hours.

The fire, according to eyewitnesses, was caused by a faulty generator that had been turned on.

 24-hours after firefighters tried to douse the inferno, it has reignited as shop owners have been asked to salvage their wares.

“The shops on the ground floor have been asked to take out their wares because the fire is not exactly under control yet. There are some combustible materials which are reigniting the fire, so there are pockets of fires,” said Ellis Robinson Okoe, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana National Fires Service (GNFS).

Rolls of fabrics, boxes of sanitary products, and other combustible materials are among the goods that have been moved from the basement of the shop complex.

Mr Okoe revealed that his outfit was alerted about the fire outbreak at about 9 am, supposedly three hours after the fire started on Monday.

“I disagree [that we have not done our best to fight the fire] because the first tender that arrived came on time. If they had called us around 6:30 am when the fire started, we would have been able to douse the fire before it got to this stage,” he said in response to accusations.

“When we came, we interviewed some people, and they said it started at 6:30 am, but we came here at 10 minutes past 9 am. Look at the difference in time. So we cannot be blamed. We have only come in here to assist,” he disclosed.

His comment comes as a response to concerns raised by scores on social media who lamented the Fire Service’s untimely intervention.

The traders were concerned by the revelation by AMA boss Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah that the fire personnel had to go as far as the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and Kaneshie to fetch water before arriving at the scene.

Traders and buyers at the Makola Market scrambled towards safety as the edifice in the country’s busiest business centre went up in flames.

Thick smoke emanated from the complex opposite the Georgina Stores Complex, close to the Makola Shopping Mall 2.

Initial word from some traders said the fire started around 9:30 am on Monday on the second floor of the three-storey building.