Angry residents and traders at Odawna have blamed the lack of urgency on the part of the Ghana National Fire Service for the extensive damage caused by Wednesday night’s fire at the Odawna market.
According to them, even though officers from the Fire Service arrived at the disaster scene early, their fire tenders were empty as such they couldn’t fight the fire which was small at the time.
“The fire wouldn’t have caused this much damage because when the fire service arrived, it wasn’t this huge, but their tenders were empty,” one woman recalled.
Other residents were heard complaining that most of the water supposed to be used to quench the fire went waste as the water hose used by the fire service were broken in various parts.
Traders who couldn’t contain her emotions said they operated their businesses with loans and didn’t know how they were going to pay off those loans and revive their businesses.
Even though the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, some witnesses believe it was caused by some Nigerians in the area whilst others were of the view that it was caused by gas cylinders used by chop bar operators in the market.
About 80 shops have been destroyed by fire that gutted the Odawna market at Circle on Wednesday night.
No casualties were recorded beyond the destruction caused to traders’ wares running into thousands of Ghana cedis.
Market fires are quite common in Ghana, with some markets in major cities often experiencing more than one of such fire outbreaks.
In this same market, there was a similar fire incident in 2013.
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