A raging fire has been reported at the Melcom warehouse in Tema Freezone on July 4.
3news sources indicate that 10 fire tenders are at the scene trying to contain the inferno.
Speaking in an interview with 3news, ADO I Alex King Nartey of the Public Relations Department of the Ghana National Service (GNFS) confirmed the incident.
“I can tell you that the Ghana National Fire Service is well on top of issues and is capable of fighting the fire. At the same time, because it’s a warehouse that contains a variety of products and goods, we need to work out reverse firefighting which is currently underway,” he said.
Commenting on the severity of the fire, Mr Nartey said, “So with Fire Service, we are able to determine the gravity of a fire based on the number of fire tenders dispatched. For us to have about 10 fire tenders, it means that it’s a very serious fire. And our personnel are currently there. It’s a very big fire, but we are on the scene and until the fire is out, we are not going anywhere,” he assured.
Although he was unable to tell exactly what caused the fire, the fire officer said, “we can’t tell for now. And the investigations normally happen during and after firefighting. And so hopefully once we are done with firefighting, we should be able to establish the actual cause of the fire.”
He added that, “looking at the fact that we are dealing with plastic materials to cloth materials to other combustible materials, the spread of fire is inevitable. But then our focus now is to contain it.
Because there are other industries and other companies there. So as much as possible, our priority is to minimize the extent of damage.”
Fire tenders from Tema New Town, Tema Industrial Area and Nungua and all other places within Tema are currently fighting the fire.
He disclosed that there were no casualties recorded.
“So fortunately, no casualties reported yet. We are making sure that we don’t, we are working hard to make sure that we avoid any civilian or firefighter casualty. And so we are working hard,” Mr Nartey said.
On when the fire started, he indicated that, “we got a call just about 30 minutes ago. And when the first crew responded, got to the scene, that’s the Tema Industrial Area fire scene. When we got there and realized the quantum of the fire, I had to quickly call for reinforcements.
So, the timely intervention of these reinforcements from the various fire stations is what is helping us contain the fire from spreading. And I’m hopeful, and I trust in our competent officers that in a few hours’ time, we should be able to put the situation under control.”
