Fire ravages Kantamanto as fire workers request for tankers to douse inferno

Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service in Accra had to call for reinforcement from the Police and Prison Services to be able to fight the inferno that razed through the Kantamanto Market in Accra early hours of Tuesday, November 29, 2022. 

The Service says they had the information of the fire around 4:35am on Tuesday but the fire hydrants in and around the vicinity could not help them fight the fire completely since there was not enough water in these hydrants.

Currently, the Fire Service is unable to ascertain what brought the fire but says it has been contained in order not to spread to other parts of the market.

The Public Affairs Director of the Ghana National Fire Service, Timothy Osafo Affum, in an interview with 3FM’s Sunrise hosted by Alfred Ocansey said “we don’t have adequate water that we need to fight the fire so we have contacted our friends from the Prisons and Police to help us with tankers to convey water to fight the fire”.

“We have now been able to put the fire under control. We have contained it…it means we have prevented the fire from spreading further…what we need is adequate water to finish it. We have requested more tankers”.

He explained that “we have adequate hydrants around but Ghana Water Company Limited is also managing water in Accra so I suspect that there is no water in them that is why they have directed us to another place to get water”.

Mr. Osafo Affum noted that we have about ten hydrants in and around the area. The hydrants are flowing but the pressure is very low to flow”.

“A substantial part of kantamanto has been affected but we are unable to tell the number of shops that have been affected’.

By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|3FM Sunrise Ghana