Fifteen families displaced by fire at Assin-Fosu

Assin Fosu (C/R), Feb.23, GNA-Fifteen families were last Friday rendered homeless after fire gutted the rooms they were occupying on the upper floor of a two-storey building near the main lorry station at Assin -Fosu. All their belongings were burnt to ashes, while the roof of the building was destroyed.

Briefing the GNA on the incident at Assin-Fosu on Monday, Mr Alfred Otoo, one of the victims, said there was nobody at home when the incident happened at around 1520 hrs.

He explained that there was power outage in the town that day and that the fire reportedly started immediately after power had been restored and it was therefore suspected that some of the occupants on the floor must have left their electrical gadgets on. He said personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in Fosu tried in vain to put out the fire and had to call for assistance from their counterparts in Cape Coast but the entire floor had completely been burnt by the time the team arrived.

Other people living within the vicinity the GNA spoke to, expressed anger that the local personnel of the Fire Service had been unable to put out the fire, because they were "too old". When contacted, the Assistant Divisional Officer of the GNFS at Fosu, Mr Tony Abraham, explained that a crew of firemen was dispatched immediately a distress call about the fire was received, but the water in the fire tender was not enough to put out the fire. He also explained that the township had no fire hydrant so water has to be fetched into the fire tender from a stream in the next village, a distance of about 13 kilometres and that investigations are underway to establish the exact cause of the fire. ASP Seth Doe, the Assin Fosu divisional crime officer said his office is yet to receive a report from Fire Service for it to carry out investigations into the incident.