Weija China Mall inferno: Inside the over 6-hour operation by Fire Service

Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) personnel were called to help douse an inferno at the China Mall Warehouse located at Weija Junction on Saturday, November 26.

The facility, located near the Empire Cement factory had been on fire since Saturday afternoon with the blaze continuing into the evening, according to GNFS.

At the time of filing this report, the following major updates had been issued:

a. Four fire tenders had been deployed from four different stations

b. The building contained fuel and building materials

c. The GNFS had to break portions of the building for better access

d. The fire had at a point been spreading

Below is a progressive account of the first six hours since the fire alert incident was issued:

Fire Incident Alert issued:

GNFS reported at around 4pm that an active fire incident was being looked into: The post on their official Facebook handle read as follows:

Inferno involving multiple building materials at Weija Junction near Empire Cement in Accra. Fire in progress.

Three (3) fire engines have been dispatched from Weija, Budumburam and Abelemkpe Fire Stations to contain the situation.

Firefighters are currently busy at the fire scene and risking it to douse the high blaze.

Fourth pump deployed

An hour later, the GNFS alerted to the fact that a fourth pump had been deployed from the National Headquarters to support the operation on the ground.

A post on Facebook added that: “Rigorous and tactical firefighting currently in progress. The Police are currently at the fire scene to provide security.

No casualty recorded at the fire scene.

Contents of building disclosed:

Close to three hours since the alert was issued, it appeared that the fire fight was ongoing but the blaze was also raging.

According to the GNFS, “Contents in the building include fuel, building materials, etc.”

Monitor deployed after parts of building broken into:

At about 7:15pm, an appliance referred to as a monitor was deployed to help douse the fire. At this point portions of the building had been weakened by the raging fire and personnel remained on the ground with little visibility but making do with some lights.

Reignitions and bulldozing parts of building for better access:

The last update from the incident at the time of filing this report was at around 10pm.

It read: "Due to lack of accessibility to fight the fire in the building, there has been several re-ignitions.

"Efforts are now being made to break portions of the building to create space for offensive firefighting."