The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has attributed delays in quenching a fire outbreak near the Accra Central Police Station to accessibility challenges that hindered emergency responders from reaching the scene quickly.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Alex King Nartey, firefighters encountered difficulties in navigating through the congested area after receiving a distress call about a fire involving a storey building on Wednesday evening.
Upon arrival, he disclosed that “the fire was fully developed and was well alight,” prompting the service to call in reinforcements from Parliament House, Circle, the Industrial Area, and the Ministries’ Fire Stations to support efforts to contain the blaze.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday, June 4, he pointed to interference from sections of the crowd gathered at the scene as another obstacle to the success of the exercise, a situation he described as disturbing.
“People were not giving us the room to operate. There were a lot of gas cylinders in there that kept going off with explosions,” he noted, adding that the explosions posed a huge risk to firefighters who attempted to enter the structure.
Despite the challenges, Mr. Nartey said the service’s primary objective was to stop the fire from spreading to nearby properties, including a Ghana Water Limited office, warehouses and banking facilities located close to the affected building.
“Our ultimate aim was to prevent the fire from further spread,” he stressed, adding that firefighters successfully protected the surrounding structures from being affected by the blaze.
