About 50 residents of a home at Old Tafo in Kumasi are counting their losses after a fire gutted their home and other property valued at thousands of cedis.
Although no fatalities were recorded, the residents told JoyNews’ Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen the fire consumed all household items including foodstuffs.
One resident, Hannah Kabore, said that she lost about ¢5,500 to the fire. The 38-year-old revealed that the money was for a friend living abroad who had been looking for a place to rent in Ghana.
She said that she was devastated to have lost not only the money but things she had worked years to acquire and built.
Another resident, Adwoa Nkrumah, said she also lost her money of over ¢8,000 and that of her husband’s.
The residents also complained that efforts to ensure that the fire service reached the scene quickly proved futile as they could not get access to the scene to put out the fire.
Officials of the National Disaster Management (NaDMO), who were present, said that investigations are still ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.
Operations Director of the Old Tafo NADMO, Joseph Ocran, said that initial checks reveal two kids had been playing with matches in their room.
“They put the matches on the mattress and it caught fire,” he said.
The official said a total of approximately ¢400,000 was lost to the fire. He added that this is the third fire outbreak in the municipality in the past few months.
Mr Okrine said NADMO is taking the steps to ensure that future fire outbreaks are prevented.
