Kantamanto Market Rocked By Devastating Fire, Over 100 Shops Destroyed
- A massive fire has rocked the Kantamanto Market in Accra's Central Business District
- The fire started around 1 am on January 2, 2025, and took 13 Ghana National Fire Service tenders to fight
- A Ghana National Fire Service spokesperson, Alex King Nartey, said told YEN.com.gh there were no casualties
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Hundreds of traders have been rocked by a devastating fire that gutted Kantamanto Market in Accra's Central Business District.
Reports indicated that nearly the entire market has been reduced to ashes. The fire started around 1 am on January 2, 2025.
Source: Facebook
The Ghana National Fire Service first responded to the distress call with five fire trucks from Makola, Greater Accra Regional Headquarters, National Headquarters, Flagstaff House, and Parliament House to combat the blaze.
The Electricity Company of Ghana had to cut power supply to the area to facilitate firefighting.
Three additional fire tenders from Circle, Trade Fair, and Dansoman were also dispatched to assist, bringing the total to eight appliances after about an hour of fighting the fire.
The service ended up with 13 tenders fighting the fire. The fire service has yet to comment on the cause of the fire or the damage caused.
About 12 hours after the blaze started, a fire service spokesperson, Alex King Nartey, told YEN.com.gh that the fire was close to being brought under control.
"It is well under control. There is no causality. We are doing what we call salvaging and overhauling to make sure the fire is totally eradicated, and there is no room for re-ignition."
Ama Mensah, a clothing vendor who had been selling at the market for 10 years told Citi News she had lost her entire business.
“All my goods, my savings, everything is gone. I don’t know how I will recover from this.”
The Kantamanto market has suffered fire incidents in the past but at varying scales.
For example, about 15 shops were destroyed by a fire on November 29, 2022.
Shops at CMB near Kantamanto in Accra were razed down by fire in September 2023. The fire service said 350 shops were destroyed by that fire.
Fire incident at Saglemi housing project
This incident comes after the fire service successfully extinguished a fire that broke out at the Saglemi Housing project late last year.
The fire engulfed five 40-foot containers previously used as offices for the contractors on-site.
The cause of the fire is yet to be known; however, the fire service said it has commenced investigations into the incident.
Fire guts Kejetia market
YEN.com.gh reported that in March 2023, a massive fire destroyed parts of the Kumasi Kejetia market.
The fire destroyed goods and properties, estimated to have run into millions of Ghana cedis.
According to reports, a section of the popular market known by locals as "Dubai" had been completely ravaged by the fire.
Personnel from the Ghana National Service arrived at the scene to fight the fire. Videos online from the incident suggested the inferno had gotten out of control by the time they got there.
Proofread by Samuel Gitonga, Copy Editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
