400 shops, properties, destroyed after Odawna fire

About 400 shops, traders’ belongings, and monies have been burnt after fire engulfed Odawna market near the Kwame Nkrumah interchange.

The fire, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to GhanaWeb’s news team started at about 1 am Wednesday, November 18, 2020.

They also blamed the Ghana National Fire Service for being unresponsive when they reported the incident to them at dawn.

This, they said, could have saved some shops from being gutted by the fire.

It is unclear what caused the fire outbreak but personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and other security agencies have been deployed to the scene to control the fire.

GhanaWeb also observed that about 8 fire tenders were at the scene to quench the blazing fire.

In an interview with the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Ellis Robinson Okoe, “The fire was so intensive that we had to bring 8 of our appliances here to fight the fire. As I speak to you now, we have been able to bring it under control. We have metal containers inside with fire and they are locked so our men are breaking and at the same time fighting the fire”.

Refuting claims that the fire trucks that came to the scene were without water, the GNFS P.R.O said “The condition in which they are they will always blame fire service. As I speak to you, aside from our fire tenders, police, prisons, national security, air force, they all came with water tankers so I don’t know what they are talking about”.



Mr Okoe also noted that the mounting of unauthorised structures on the walkway a hindrance to executing their work in this emergency case.

“Accessibility to the market is a very big problem. The same strength that we are using to fight the fire, the same strength that we are using to carry the containers away for us to have access to the fire so the work is very tedious,” he added.

Meanwhile, affected persons are at the scene to check on their shops and know what next officials will say to them.