Fire destroys Makola Shopping Mall again

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has begun an investigation into a fire incident that happened yesterday morning at the Makola shopping mall which destroyed a lot of properties amounting to millions of Ghana Cedis.

The recent incident comes just a month after a similar occurrence was recorded in the central business district.

Yesterday’s incident gutted some parts of the inner perimeter of the new Makola shopping mall consisting of shops that deal in hair and cosmetic products, clothes, shoes among others.

“This morning, we were going about our normal security patrol here when a colleague told me he was seeing smoke from the roof of the shopping mall. So I told the security personnel at the mall to check it. I personally tried calling the number of the Fire Service several times, but it was not going through. So we tried putting the fire off ourselves. 30 minutes later, the fire officers came in to control the fire. Accessing the exact spot of the fire has been difficult, but everything in there has been burnt. The flames have been controlled now, but there is a lot of smoke in the area”, an eyewitness told Citi news.

The Public Relations Officer of the GNFS  Divisional Officer Grade I,  Ellis Robinson Okoe, who narrated the incident also said:

“Around 7:26 am, we had a distress call that there was a fire outbreak at the small portion of the Makola Shopping Mall. So our men came in, and we observed that due to the nature of the things that were burning, the fire was well-alight. So we got about six of our fire tenders, one ladder, and support from the Army to help us douse the fire. We have been able to douse the fire. It took us about two hours, and we observe that some containers and shops have been destroyed.”

Mr. Okoe also added that under the direction of the Mayor of Accra, a joint committee has been tasked with the mandate to probe the actual cause of the fire.

“It is too early to talk about the cause of the fire. The Mayor just set up a committee comprising the Fire Service, Water Company, Electricity Company, market authorities and the police to come together to get the actual cause of the fire. Everything is under control because only a small part of the market got burnt. There should be no fears.”