The Ashanti Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service, GNFS, has warned that varied human activities at the sprawling slum dotted along the Asafo Railway Line in the Central Business District of Kumasi, can trigger fire outbreaks with dire consequences.
The Regional Public Relations Officer, Divisional Officer Three, Desmond Ackah, has therefore called for immediate action to demolish the slum.
He expressed concern at the way the area had become notorious for criminal activities and serving as a den for drug peddlers, whose activities make the place susceptible to fire.
In addition, there are Illegal electricity connections, naked flames and other unsupervised activities relating to fire had also compounded the problem. The warning comes in the wake last Sunday’s fire outbreak which swept through about 30 wooden structures at the slum, leaving one person dead.
DO Ackah said it took firefighters several hours to overcome the fire as they had to bulldoze their way through many illegally-sited structures before getting to the affected zones.
