Fire Guts Parts of Kejetia Market; Fire Service Swoops In to Prevent Major Disaster

• A fire outbreak has affected parts of the Kejetia Market in Kumasi, destroying several shops and goods in the early hours of Monday, April 20, 2026
• Thick smoke engulfed sections of the major trading centre as traders rushed to salvage their belongings
• The swift intervention of the Ghana National Fire Service helped prevent the situation from escalating into a major disaster

Some parts of the Kejetia Market in Kumasi have been affected by a fire at the major trading centre.

The fire, believed to have started in the early hours of Monday, April 20, 2026, ravaged some shops and destroyed goods.

In a video circulating on social media, thick smoke engulfed the market, with some shops gutted.

According to eyewitnesses, the situation would have been worse but for the timely intervention of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), whose personnel were seen working tirelessly to extinguish the fire.

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Watch the IG video below:

Fire outbreaks at Kejetia market

The Kejetia market has been hit with several fire outbreaks in recent times.

In January 2025, several shops been burnt to ashes in the market during a devastating fire incident that occurred in the early hours of Friday, January 24, 2025.

According to the GNFS, 23 out of 25 shops were salvaged, preventing the fire from spreading further.

Aside from this, a massive fire destroyed parts of the Kumasi Kejetia market in March 2023.

In the last few years, several fire incidents have occurred in commercial centres across the country.

Fire service spokesperson Alex King Nartey noted to YEN.com.gh that safety recommendations are consistently ignored.

Most notably, thousands of traders were rocked by a devastating fire that gutted Kantamanto Market in Accra's Central Business District.

The early morning blaze on January 2, 2025, reduced the vast majority of the market to ashes.

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Market fires are a regular occurrence because of poor safety standards. A Ghana National Fire

Netizens reacts Kejetia market fire incident

Some Ghanaians who chanced on the video of the Kejetia market outbreak took to the comment section to share their views.

YEN.com.gh has compiled a few of the reactions below:

@nayah_thechangemaker said:

"This incident happened 16yrs ago and my late grandmother was a shop owner. It was alleged that some traders commit arson as a means to evade debt obligations. I just can't fathom how and why a person with conscience would result to this."

@kplorm also said:

"The newly constructed market building?"

@gauchomns also said:

"When they don't want to pay back loans from banks, they set fire manually.... Black man black sense."

@invictus_raphael commented:

"I just left Kejetia; went to buy ingredients there. I didn't see anything like that and I hope they extinguish the fire soon."

@kwame__aaboagyee also commented:

"What’s wrong in Kumasi that almost every month there are fire incidents in their markets."

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Fire incident at Saglemi housing project

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported that the fire service successfully extinguished a fire that broke out at the Saglemi Housing project.

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.

Source: YEN.com.gh