Thousands left homeless after fire engulfed over 800 structures at Old Fadama

Thousands of people living at Old Fadama, an urban slum area, have been rendered homeless following a fire outbreak which destroyed over 800 wooden structures on Tuesday dawn.

According to eyewitnesses, the inferno which started around 2 am spread quickly as most of the structures were made of wood.

Several properties, running into thousands of Ghana Cedis have been lost in the fire according to a report by Joy News.

However, no casualties have been recorded.

The victims, who are mainly head potters(kayayei), mechanics and traders were unable to salvage any of their belongings.

They accused the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) of displaying a careless attitude towards the situation.

According to them, the Fire Service arrived at the scene with empty fire tenders tank and this, they said, added to the wild spread of the fire.

“My friend told me that they started calling the fire service since the fire started but after several calls, only one tanker came and it had no water so we had to resort to water from the pipes to douse the flames.” An eyewitness said.

The stranded victims have called on the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and benevolent citizens to come to their aid.

See photos below