A fire outbreak at the Dome market has seen over 50 shops and other structures destroyed.
The incident, reported to have occurred in the late hours of Sunday, January 7, 2024, affected shops and other structures around 9:30 pm on Sunday.
It is currently unclear what caused the fire but firemen from different parts of Accra were marshalled to subdue the ravaging inferno.
Speaking to reporters on the scene, an official of the Ghana National Fire Service, ADOII Alex Nartey highlighted some of the challenges they faced in salvaging the situation.
“There was a lot of obstruction. Lack of accessibility was a big challenge for our work. Our appliance couldn’t even get through where the actual fire was. We had to park somewhere quite far from the fire scene and then drag our hoses all the way through to the fire scene, so it was quite a challenge for us. But from 9:30 to 3:30, we were able to extinguish the fire to prevent any casualties.”
However, he revealed that about $500 worth of properties were prevented from being destroyed, with at least 50 shops that couldn’t escape the incident.
“As it stands now, we recorded 50 losses with the shops and other stores that were there, but we were able to salvage items worth over $500 from being affected by the fire.”
He called on the government and authorities in the Dome and its environs to consider fire safety, stressing that the community lacks fire stations.
“This is a call to the assemblies there to prioritize fire safety because the unfortunate thing is that there is not a single fire station in this area; Dome and Taifa area. If the assembly or the government had set up a fire station there and we had taken personnel there and appliances, I’m sure our response would have been shorter to avert this kind of loss.”
