A six-bedroom story building and property worth millions of cedis were destroyed by fire at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on Friday.
The fire, said to have occurred around 0700 hours, consumed “everything”, said officials of the National Fire Service.
Mr Timothy Osafo Affum, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), said the Service received a distressed call around 0754 hours and dispatched the nearest truck, which got to the scene five minutes after the call due to traffic congestion.
Mr Affum said a pump failure affected firefighting operations, necessitating a call for a second truck from the head office.
He said minutes into the ‘fire battle’ additional fire tenders and pumps were called.
The PRO said initial investigations indicated that the fire started from one of the rooms upstairs and that a comprehensive investigation would establish the cause of the fire.
Madam Veronica Mensah, an eyewitness, told the GNA that she was on her way to the house to help with funeral preparations when she saw a “thick smoke from the building.”
“From afar, I saw people who had come to help in the funeral preparations working to get the place ready for the burial service, but I saw the smoke when I got closer and prompted the workers to run for their lives.”
Giovanni Geraldo, a second-year student at the Ghana National College, an habitant of the house, said he and his family had lost “everything” to the fire.
He said he rushed out from his sleep when the room suddenly became too hot.
“I got totally confused as to what to do then I rushed to my grandmother who is handicapped, helped her onto a wheelchair and brought her out of the house.”
The student said he and his brothers tried to put out the fire before calling the Fire Service, but after a few attempts, they realized the fire was beyond their control.
“I hope our story gets far to attract the attention of some philanthropists and if possible, the government to help us get onto our feet as a family again,” he said.
Source: GNA