Fire Gut Cars

FOUR VEHICLES under repairs got burnt at the Old Amakom fitting centre, one of the biggest auto mechanic areas in Kumasi on Friday, evening following a ferocious blaze that hit the place. The inferno, said to be very intense and dangerous, also consumed two shops including, the popular Suleimana Iddrisu Enterprise, dealers in car batteries and other products. Vehicles such as Sprinter, Ford, Lantra and Peugeot got burnt during the fire outbreak which lasted for close to one-hour before it was eventually doused by fire fighters, observers said. The swift response to a distress call by the personnels of the Ghana National Fire Service(GNFS), eye witnesses said, proved vital as they helped contained the fire on time before it could cause further havoc. Eye witnesses could not state the exact cause of the fire which started around 10:00p.m. to DAILY GUIDE, during the paper�s visit at the disaster scene on Sunday afternoon. Daniel Yeboah, an auto sprayer at the Old Amakom fitting centre said the fire started at a time when the entire area was experiencing a power outage, debunking rumours electrical fault might have started the blaze. He also described as hoax, reports making rounds that the blaze perhaps might have been started by the burning of refuse at the area, stating, �I was the last person to leave here that day and nobody burnt any refuse here.� According to Yeboah who owns a shop at the area, he was in his house when he received a call from residents at Old Amakom that the entire fitting centre was burning. He hurriedly rushed to the place and when he got to the scene, the Old Amakom fitting centre was covered with thick smoke and fire which was spreading at a top speed. Yeboah said residents of the area started battling the dangerous fire and in the course of doing so, personnel of the GNFS also appeared at the scene to help. He commended the fire fighters for the swift manner at which they responded to their distress call and the level of efficiency which they displayed that ensured the fire being quenched within just one-hour. Yeboah disclosed that the fire was so intense that even a staff of the GNFS sustained injuries whilst battling the blaze and he was rushed to the hospital. Charles Ofori and Anthony Owusu Asante, who are mechanics at the area, said this was the first time that the Old Amakom fitting centre had suffered a fire outbreak. They also showered praises on the fire fighters for their acts of bravery and efficiency that they displayed to douse the fire quickly before it could spread to other shops and cars parked at the scene. Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital has in recent times become a prone area where fire outbreaks had been occurring frequently, a development which is causing uneasiness among residents. Within a spate of one-month, several residential apartments and a building containing a number of shops at Adum, the city centre, have all been gutted by fire.