Sawmill owners fetch water to quench the blazing fire after fire tenders exhausted water
THE GHANA NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE (GNFS), last Saturday night, had a hectic time in dousing an inferno razing through the timber market in Sunyani in the Bono Region.
Properties worth millions of cedis, consisting mainly of sawn timber and wood-working machinery, were lost to the fire, the cause of which is yet to be determined. Conjectures are however rife already as to the possible cause.
While some attributed it to the presence of hoodlums and wee-smokers in the surroundings, others said a nearby refuse dump, which they claimed might have caught fire, spread it to the saw-dust emitted by the wood being sold. Others too attribute it to illegal electricity connections.
The fire was said to have started at about 4:30 am. Extinguishing it, however, proved particularly difficult, because of the haphazard nature of the place, and also because somewhere along the line, the fire-fighters ran out of water. It took some three or four hours to bring it under control.
DO3 Isaac Noekoh, the Regional Operations Commander of the GNFS, said some of the hydrants within the area had been blocked by market-women, compelling them to go as far as Abesim, some 6 kilometres away, to refill the fire-tenders.
He could not immediately ascertain the cause of the fire, but also attributed it to either a refuse dump fire, a fire from wee-smokers, or fire caused by illegal electricity connections made by some workers at the wood market.
He, however, indicated that ongoing investigations would finally unravel the exact cause, and exhorted wood workers to always switch off their machines before leaving the market.
He said this was the third time that fire had destroyed the same timber market just within the space of three years.
From Daniel Dayee, Sunyani