Fire guts premix fuel station at Yeji

Correspondence from Bono East Region

Raging fire has gutted a pre-mix fuel station at Yeji in the Pru East District of the Bono East Region.

The fire which started around mid-day on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, got fire personnel in Yeji struggling for over an hour to bring the fire under control.

The fire destroyed several drums of premix fuel running into thousands of Ghana Cedis. It also razed the entire building used as offices by the premix dealers, boat owners and fishermen before it was finally brought under control by the hardworking fire personnel.

Fire personnel blamed their inability to control the flames quickly on the attitude and response of the public to emergencies.

According to them, the residents delayed in calling them, adding that the situation was far escalated by the time they got to the scene.

“We received a distress call that the premix fuel station was on fire, so we quickly rushed to the scene but when we got here, the situation had already escalated. We could have dealt with the situation on time but we faced some opposition from the public as to how we should do our work”.

Eyewitnesses’ accounts attribute the cause of the fire to a nearby “joint” where some men were preparing a local tea popularly called “Ataya”.

According to them, they suspect the fire from the place which is just some few metres from the fuel station caused the inferno.

Meanwhile, fuel owners who have decried the impact of the fire on them and are counting their losses say they have lost all their investments in the fire.

They reveal that the inferno will not only make life difficult for them but w also lead to a shortage of premix fuel in the area.a shortage of premix fuel in the area.