The Ghana National Fire Service is investigating a power-restoration fault as a possible trigger for Friday night’s fire at the Kumasi Central Market, after eyewitnesses said the blaze started right after electricity came back on.
Ashanti Regional Fire Commander ACFO I Peter Tetteh said preliminary accounts from people at the scene point to a brief power outage in the area.
“From what we heard, eyewitnesses said there was a light out. In three minutes, the light came back on, and that is when they saw the fire,” he said.
He, however, cautioned that this has not been confirmed as the cause and that investigations are still ongoing.
Mr Tetteh shared this information during an inspection of the fire-ravaged area near the Aboabo Station with the Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, and the Kumasi Mayor, Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi.
He said traders with basic fire safety training tried to put out the early flames with portable extinguishers before firefighters arrived, but the fire spread too fast for them.
The first fire appliance, from Asokore Mampong, reached the scene at 8:39 pm. Crews then set up containment lines to keep the fire from reaching other sections of the market.
A total of five appliances, four fire tenders and a water tanker, were deployed to fight the fire.
“We didn’t have a problem with water at all yesterday,” Mr Tetteh said, indicating that the major challenge crews faced was movement.
He told reporters that traders rushed in to retrieve their belongings, crowding the lanes and making it difficult for firefighters to move around.
“There were a lot of obstructions yesterday. Even the police were here, but it was very, very difficult over here,” he said.
The fire was the second in the Kumasi metropolis within about three hours on Friday, following an earlier blaze at a mattress factory at Sokoban-Ampayoo.
The number of shops affected, the value of goods lost, and any injuries or casualties have not yet been made public, and an assessment of the total losses is ongoing.
