The Ghana National Fire Service says it is not to blame for the nonfunctioning water hydrants that made it difficult for them to douse the fire that engulfed shops at the Makola market on Monday.
According to the PRO of the Fire Service Ellis Robinson Oko, actions and inactions of some state agencies such as the Ghana Water Company, Electricity Company of Ghana and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly make it difficult for the firefight in the city.
“We didn’t run out of water. The problem is all the fire hydrants didn’t have water in them so we had to rely on water from circle and Alajo. It’s the responsibility of the water company to manage the fire hydrants. We don’t manage fire hydrants.
“As at the time the fire happened, all the hydrants were not flowing. The water company didn’t tell us why they shut it yesterday. We couldn’t leave our duty to go ask Ghana Water Company why there was no water in our hydrants so we did what was required at the time and that’s what we did. It’s rather unfortunate that everyone is blaming us but let’s look at the situation on the ground before blaming the fire service,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Tuesday.
The Fire Service has come under attack for its inability to respond immediately to the fire as its office is located near the scene of the incident. The fire tender at the Makola fire station had to move to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle where it could locate a hydrant.
Items running into several millions of cedis have been burnt in the flame.
