52 kiosks reduced to ashes at Tantra Hills, Accra

About 52 kiosks have been consumed by flames in the slum community of Tantra Hills.

The tragic incident occurred in the afternoon of February 17.

Residents of the community are in shock, grieving the loss of their belongings and facing the harsh reality of homelessness. Although personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) managed to control the flames after several calls, the damage has already taken its toll. Everything had been engulfed by fire.

Speaking to eyewitnesses and residents of the community, they were highly distressed.

“I was in school, and I was called that fire was set ablaze in my house. There was an electrical problem from one woman’s kiosk that caught fire after contact with gas in her home and it exploded,” Lucy described.

“I can’t really talk because I was at the workplace when I was called that my building was on fire. Before I got here, everything was burnt even though I got some few things, but my neighbors and friends have lost everything. I would have to go back to the office and sleep there for the night.” – A young lady who is a resident there also expressed.

“Everything of mine is burnt because I wasn’t around. Someone told me about the incident and I thought it was a joke. Upon running to the scene, I realized it was true,” another woman explained.

“Everything is burnt including my money and a loan of 4,000 cedis and some susu I’ve been saving have all been burnt,” lamented another victim.

The ADO 1 Alex King Nartey who led a team of fire men to the scene highlighted some challenges the fire his colleagues faced.

“We got a fire call around this afternoon that there was fire in Tantra Hills around 2:00pm. The lack of fire stations within a big area like this. Look at a big area like Tantra Hills, Achimota, Dome, Kwabenya, Taifa. There’s no fore station in this whole area, so whenever there’s a fire emergency, we have to move all the way from Abelemkpe,” he bemoaned.

According to him, the traffic congestion towards the area prevented them from arriving as quickly as they had wished.

“Look at the traffic situation we are dealing with, so we did well to get here baring all the unfortunate circumstances on the way. We got here within 10 minutes, and we realized that the fire was fast spreading, so it was important that we identified the unaffected structures or buildings and try to fight the fire to contain it from further spread. It took us a bit over an hour but we were able to confine the fire and put it under control. As at now, it’s under control but not extinguished,” he explained.

The affected residents called on government and other benevolent individuals to come to their aid.

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