The committee set up to probe into the cause of fire that engulfed the Makola Market on July 5 this year, in its report sighted by Awake News, cited possible faulty power generating machine and human error as the possible cause of the disaster that resulted in the destruction of goods worth about GH₵97,213,600.00 with the cost of damage on the building far exceeding million Ghana Cedis.
“Generally, there was a consensus by the traders that the fire outbreak emanated from the connection of a generator and electricity. They noticed a smoke coming in front of one of the shops on the second floor of the building after the third erratic power outage in the morning when the said shop switched on its generator set”, the report says.
The report, however adds that, checks by the committee from the Control Room of the Electricity Company of Ghana and their Fault Office records could not confirm the power outages.
The committee in its 39-page report listed a faulty generator, a fuel leakage from the generator, a faulty or sub-standard change-over switch as possible causes of the fire outbreak.
On the extent of damage, the report states that out of 122 shops in the building, 84 shops had their wares completely burnt, and about 84 shop owners, seven container owners and 16 table top owners had their businesses destroyed.
On how the fire was controlled, the report says a total of eleven (11) fire appliances made up of nine (9) tenders and two (2) turntable ladders respectively were used to extinguish the fire. The operation was executed by a team of Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) personnel, the Ghana Army, and the Prison Service.
The committee after its assessment is recommending the demolishing of the existing market structure for reconstruction.
“As per the result of the structural integrity assessment test on the current nature of the burnt building, it should be pulled down for reconstruction since its current state was a risk to those who would like to occupy it and to the general public who may have to do business there”, the report says.
The seven-member committee of enquiry included Mr. Henry Plange, Metro Director of NADMO at the AMA as its chair, with other members as Assistant Director of Administration of AMA, Mr. Julius Azumah, District Commercial Officer of GWCL, Mr. Collins Owusu, ECG District Engineer at Makola, Ing. Enoch A. Sowah, District Fire Commander and Ag. Assist. Director of Operations of GNFS, D.O.I Lily A. Robertson and D.O.I Ofori-Adjei respectively and Rapid Deployment Force Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Supt. Freeman Kumashie.
By: Adua-Saah Abugah
