Photos: Two fire incidents recorded in Ashanti Region in 48 hours
Authorities are investigating a suspected arson attack after a fire consumed a 10-bedroom house at Edwenase in the Kwadaso Municipality and at least eight container shops at Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, in the last 48 hours.
At Edwenase the fire erupted around midday, Sunday (25 February) collapsing the parts of the story building and destroying other properties in the process.
Assemblyman for the Area Emmanuel Agyei Darko who confirmed the incident to Asaase News says a serious manhunt has been launched for the sole occupant of the facility.
“About 10 bedrooms have been burnt down. This is an uncompleted building without electricity and according to the caretakers there was a naked flame in the house they suspect the occupant of the house whose tenancy has expired. Now they have gone to report the matter to the police”, Darko said.
“Now one person has been detained by the caretakers after he launched an attack on them. He was sent to the police station to assist investigations”, he added.
Another fire incident destroyed at least eight containers and their contents at Black Park, a popular trading hub in the Obuasi Municipality on Monday (26 February).
A joint team from the AGA Fire Station and the Ghana National Fire Service declared the situation under control after battling the inferno for several hours.
Affected victims were counting their losses shortly after the firemen left the scene. Items including plastics, and flammable objects among others were destroyed.
For 40-year-old Isaac Gyan, it is a terrible loss.
“I got a call from one of my colleagues about the incident and so I had to rush to the scene only for me to see my items in flames. The fire service did a good job. Their timely intervention saved the situation. It would have been a disaster”, he said.
This comes as the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) launches intense fire education in the region to curb such incidents.
“Residents must take safety precautions by turning off their appliances and if possible, unplug them”. And so, we want to urge the public that to take our intensified education seriously especially now that we are experiencing these outages”, said DO3 Peter Adai, spokesperson of the Ghana National Fire Service in the Ashanti Region.
