In about three months, two major markets in the country witnessed fire incidents that destroyed goods worth hundreds of millions of Ghana Cedis, leaving traders and shop owners in a flood of wailing, weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It began on January 2, 2025, with an inferno which razed the famous Kantamanto market. Following this was the January 13, 2025, fire disaster at the Techiman Central Market, then came the latest fire at the Blue Light Arena in Adum, Kumasi on March 21.
The commercial hub housing shops selling mobile phones, accessories, jewellery, clothing, and second-hand goods, recorded one of the major fire disasters in Kumasi.
Even a day after the incident, traces of fire and smoke remain visible in the rubble, with burnt metal containers scattered across the area.
One recurring trend in these fire incidents is the fact that they occurred in the early hours of the morning, at a time most shops were locked.
Could it be that the fire disasters were caused by the fact that traders could not observe simple rules like turning off electrical appliances when closing for business? What is the state of the wiring connections in these markets?
Like most Ghanaians, we are wont to ask what firefighting measures had been put in place in all these markets and other public places in the state. There is no contesting the fact that while prompt response from the fire service is important, such cannot take the place if preventive measures were ignored or deliberately violated.
As a newspaper, we sympathise with traders and all those who incurred losses in these market infernos and urge the government to, without any delay, unravel the remote and immediate cause(s) of these disasters. Even more importantly, in our opinion, it should put in place measures to forestall future occurrence. They have become one too many.
Now more than ever before, these recurring incidents of fire disaster underscore the need for stakeholders-the government, traders and officials of market associations- to devise means of ensuring enhanced disaster prevention and management strategies.
In our opinion, there is an overarching need to strengthen and effectively equip the fire service in view of the increasing incidences of fire disaster.
Statistics indicate that, Ghana recorded 4,650 fire incidents between January and September 2024.