Residents of Tema Community 18 were yesterday stunned when a fire tender called in to put out a raging fire had to return to base with the explanation that they their tender had run short of water.
By the time reinforcement arrived, the fire had caused extensive damage to the property, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the Ghana Nation Fire Service (GNFS).
The fire, which started a little after 9am yesterday morning in the garage of a residence, got out of hand as efforts to put out the fire by onlookers proved futile.
An eyewitness who spoke to The Finder said a car in the garage caught fire and the fire then moved to the main residence, adding: �Since there is a police post nearby, we called them but there was nothing they could do. I had to call some radio stations to announce it on air while we tried to reach the fire service.�
Dr Kwesi Ohemene, the eyewitness, said after they managed to reach the service after some time, it took the fire service about 45 minutes to get to the place, by which time the garage was totally destroyed.
�The fire tender that was brought didn�t have enough water to put the fire under control so we had to start looking for a place where we could get water for the tender while a call was made for reinforcement.�
By the time reinforcement arrived, the fire had engulfed almost the entire house.
Another eyewitness told The Finder that the walls of the house was able to contain the fire for a long time and that if the fire service had arrived earlier they would have been able to resolve the situation.
Things destroyed by the fire included two cars, furniture and some household items.
The Finder later learnt that some teenagers who were believed to have been preparing to step out of the house with one of the cars decided to warm the engine of the car. The vehicle unfortunately got overheated, leading to the fire.
The teenagers were later taken to the Community 18 Police Station for their statements.
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