Fire guts apartment at Nkontwima

Fire gutted a seven-bed­room apartment at Nkontwima in the Tafo Mu­nicipality of the Ashanti Region.

The occupants, made up of children and adults, escaped un­hurt from the house when the fire started at about 9am last Friday.

They drew the attention of neighbours, who helped to contain the situation.

Fire officers were later invited, and called in when the fire became intense and spread to other rooms in the apartment.

Bremang Fire Commander, D.O III Selase Prosper Avevor, blamed the cause of the fire on a deep freezer containing food items, which was connected to an electric extension board with a faulty socket.

He said, “it resulted in sparks and because there were many materials in the room that was combustible, the sparks triggered and ignited the fire and because there were no gabbles in the house too, the fire quickly spread to oth­er rooms in the house.”

D.O III Avevor said the fire caused much damage because oc­cupants of the apartment tried to fight the fire all by themselves until it was too late to call the Ghana National Fire Service.

“They were trying to tackle the fire on their own without drawing our attention. If they had called the Fire Service early, we would have been here to contain the fire,” he said.

D.O III Avevor cautioned that high voltage-consuming gadgets shouldn’t be fixed in extension boards, to prevent fire outbreaks.