Fire at Konkomba Market

More than 50 wooden structures at the Konkomba market in Accra were burnt on Sunday afternoon in a fire which destroyed property running into thousands of Ghana cedis.
The fire which started around 11.00 a.m, consumed items including DVD players, radio and television sets, suitcases, mobile phones, second hand goods, utensils and foodstuffs.
Attempts by fire officers from the Accra Central Makola Fire Service Station to get access to the fire scene proved futile as their truck could not meander its way through the structures, in spite of efforts by the fire tender operator.
The Assistant Station Officer of the Makola Fire Service Station, Mr O. Emmanuel Adjei said the fire service personnel finally had to abandon the place because there was no alternate route to the fire scene.
He said the route leading to the fire scene, which was about a hundred metres away from the point where their truck was stuck, was very narrow and impossible for them to even join water hoses to the scene.
The Station Officer, Mr Nii Noi Owuo said his team was investigating the cause of the fire.
Some of the affected persons the Daily Graphic spoke to attributed the cause of the fire to an overheated stabiliser in a locked up wooden structure.
A resident, Mallam Zakaria Baba, 30 years said he was asleep when he heard people shouting outside, so he went out and realised that the room he was sleeping in had caught fire.
“I’m lucky I was able to save a few of my belongings”, he stated, noting that some of his friends had lost a lot of items worth thousands of Ghana cedis.
Another affected person, Kassim Satara, a 26-year-old scrap dealer who lost almost all his belongings including two mobile phones, audio and video discs players, and suitcases said he had gone to work with his room mate, but came to meet the horrible sight after the fire had died down.
An eyewitness, Yakubu Abdul Rahim, said to prevent the fire from spreading to other structures they had to demolish all structures near to the raging flames.