Suame fire renders over 400 homeless

More than 400 squatters at a slum in Zone Two within the Suame magazine industrial enclave in Kumasi have been rendered homeless after fire destroyed their makeshift structures Wednesday.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known but victims blamed it on a faulty gas cylinder in one of the structures.
The fire outbreak which started around 4pm yesterday destroyed over 150 wooden structures housing the occupants, mostly settlers who hail from the northern part of the country.
Fire fighters had a hectic time to douse the inferno which seems to be an annual ritual at Suame magazine.
But some victims believed the extent of damage could have been less, if personnel of the fire service had intervened a bit earlier.
The blaze also consumed over 150 shops, destroying cash and other properties running into thousands of cedis.
Benjamin gathered the fire fighters encountered a serious challenge in getting access to the fire zone, which escalated how the fire spread to the adjoining structures. Some of the affected persons have been counting their loss on Thursday morning.
Some residents appealed to the government to bring back the fire station which was relocated from the Breman area.