Fire Destroys 10 Shops, Damages 30 at Kasoa New Market as Missing Hydrant Hampers Rescue

A dawn fire at Kasoa New Market on Tuesday swept through 80 metal container shops, completely destroying 10 and partially damaging 30 others, while firefighters saved 40 containers in a joint operation. The Ghana National Fire Service confirmed no casualties; the cause remains under investigation.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) said the Buduburam Fire Station received a distress call at 2:14 a.m. and dispatched a crew led by Station Officer II Balorby a minute later. Arriving at the scene at 2:27 a.m., the firefighters found the blaze spreading rapidly and requested backup from the Weija and Dansoman stations.

The operation faced two major setbacks. The Buduburam fire tender developed a mechanical fault mid-operation, forcing the Weija crew to take over firefighting duties. Meanwhile, the absence of a fire hydrant in the market made water supply difficult, and the blaze was further fueled by the close arrangement of the containers and the highly combustible materials stored inside them.

The fire affected 80 metal containers stocked with clothing, cooking oil, rubber slippers, assorted drinks, gas cylinders and refrigerators. The joint firefighting effort brought the blaze under control at 3:49 a.m. and fully extinguished it at 6:21 a.m., after roughly four hours.

The incident is not the market's first major fire this year. On January 4, a larger blaze destroyed more than 360 mini shops at Kasoa New Market, with losses estimated in the millions of cedis. Residents at the time suspected a faulty electricity meter, and GNFS preliminary investigations pointed to an electrical fault—marking the second major fire in the same area within a year.

In April, GNFS officials publicly flagged persistent safety gaps at the market: no supervision after closing hours, people gathering to smoke and discarding cigarette butts near goods, and a lack of night security personnel. The Service called for a fire station to be established at the market, but the absence of a fire hydrant during Tuesday's blaze suggests the infrastructure gap remains unaddressed.

The GNFS reiterated that the tight packing of container shops, the combustible goods inside them and the missing hydrant were the three core factors hampering fire control. The cause of the fire had not been announced as of publication.