Fire Tender in a fatal accident

Accra, Dec. 30, GNA - A fire tender of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) was on Thursday early morning involved in an accident just around the Obetsebe Lamptey round about near the Kaneshie Market in Accra.

Group Fire Officer, Justina S. Lamptey, Second In Command of Accra City Fire Station told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that a Taxi Cab whose registration number was being withheld for security reasons crossed the tender, causing it to skid off the road landing on its side.

She said the tender was from the Weija Fire Station moving towards the Central Business Centre to fight fire, which had engulfed the Kantamanto Market between the Railways Station and Ghana Commercial Bank Liberty Avenue branch.

She said the officers onboard the tender who sustained minor injuries had been treated and discharged from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Group Fire Officer Lamptey urged motorist to co-operate with the GNFS to fight incidence of fire outbreaks by abiding with the Service's preventive measures.

She expressed concern about the attitude of some drivers, especially taxi drivers who intentionally obstruct the movement of tenders responding to distress calls.

Group Fire Officer Lamptey said the serene should be respected at all cause and condemned its abuse by some motorists "some purely for fun".

She called for the enforcement of laws on the usage of serene in the country to facilitate the work of Fire Service personnel, Security Agents and Ambulance operators.

Meanwhile the fire that gutted the Kantamanto Market, destroying goods worth several million of cedis on Wednesday had been brought under control.

An eyewitness told the GNA that the fire was spotted raging the market at about 2245 hours on Wednesday and a distress call was made to the Ghana National Fire Service who responded immediately. However, it took the GNFS personnel about three hours to bring the fire under control due to the difficult terrene, compounded with the lack of accessibility to the area. 30 Dec. 04