Quran escapes burning

Fire gutted a four-bedroom apartment at Airport Ridge, residential area in the Sekondi-Takoradi yesterday, destroying several properties running into thousands of Ghana cedis.

The house was being occupied by two Lebanese and a Ghanaian, who claimed to be the nephew of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The inferno destroyed an air-conditioner, television sets, refrigerator, furniture, clothing and huge sums of money.

Surprisingly, a Quran belonging to the said nephew of Bawumia was not affected.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known according to personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), who went to the scene.

One of the affected residents told journalists that he went to pick his children from school and on his way back, a neighbour called him to tell him that his house was on fire.

“I quickly called personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and within about 15 minutes they arrived and managed to quench the fire,” he added.

. Station Officer Eshun of the GNFS in the area indicated that when he and his team arrived on the scene, they realized that two rooms were on fire and that the fire was spreading to other rooms of the house.

“We also realized that the electricity power was on so we alerted the personnel of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to switch off power in the vicinity which they did,” he indicated.

“After that we were able to enter the house and managed to quench the fire,” he added.

The fire officer mentioned that the caretaker of the house heard an unusual loud noise in one of the sitting rooms in the house which was followed by a thick smoke while she was in the kitchen.

He advised residents in the area to put off their electrical gadgets when leaving their houses, adding that because of the Harmattan, any little electrical spark could result in fire outbreak.