The fire scene
APARTMENT HOUSING Sunyani Circuit Court and District Court B within the Sunyani Municipal Assembly premises has been razed down by fire last Sunday dawn.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but eyewitnesses account say the fire started at about 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Firefighters from the Sunyani Municipal Command arrived at the scene at about 3:27 a.m. and were able to contain the blaze.
All ancillary facilities including registrar’s office, judges’ chambers, courtrooms, account office, bailiff section and court documents were all burnt into ashes.
As at 8 a.m. yesterday when DAILY GUIDE visited the fire scene, all relevant officials including the Bono Regional Minister, the Member of Parliament for Sunyani East, the Municipal Chief Executive, Regional Fire Commander, as well as President of the Bono Ghana Bar Association, were present to assess the situation.
Speaking to journalists, the Regional Fire Commander, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Cecil Addo, explained that his men had a tough time accessing water to fight the inferno when they arrived at the scene at about 3:27 a.m. after a distress call at 3: 19 a.m.
“All the fire hydrants around the area are dried, and we had to fall on a private facility from Baakonuaba to draw water to extinguish the fire,” he disclosed.
He described the development as unfortunate, and appealed to the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to drill boreholes to assist in times of fire outbreak.
According to him, fire tenders from the Sunyani Municipal Fire Station could not contain the situation, so firefighters had to fall on fire tender from Abesim Fire Station to be able to bring the fire under control.
ACFO Cecil Addo did not rule out arson, but said investigations are underway.
The Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addai Akwaboah, told journalists that the Sunyani Municipal Assembly will immediately find a temporary place for court proceedings to take place.
President of the Bono Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Alexander Amponsah, on his part, described the fire incident as unfortunate and appealed to members of GBA and other court workers to keep calm while authorities find a place for court proceedings.
FROM Daniel Y. Dayee, Sunyani