The deficiencies of the Ghana Fire Service, according to Nana Akwasi Prempeh, chairman of the Petty Traders Association, are to blame for the massive damage brought on by the fire that broke out at the Kejetia market on Wednesday.

On March 15, a fire devastated portions of the first and second floors of the market, severely damaging several shops.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, the petty traders’ chairman said the Fire Service cannot absolve itself from the unfortunate damage that was caused by the fire because that would not have happened if the necessary firefighting equipment were put in place at the market.

“If the fire fighting system in the market had been activated earlier, we think the extent of damage that was caused in the market would have reduced drastically because there were instances where we realized that there was no flow of water in the nearby water hydrant. They had locked the water and there was no alarm warning to indicate that there was going to be some fire.”

He added that “there was no alarm system to forewarn the traders, there were no smoke detectors and there were no fire detectors to alert the market traders of the looming damage.”

On his part, the Ashanti Regional Fire Commander, ACFO1 Henry Giwah, explained that management of the market had some lapses in its readiness to fight fire outbreaks.

“We identified some lapses, we informed management of the market, and they promised to fix it for which reason we have not even renewed their certificate. We were going to make sure those things are rectified first before the outbreak happened.”