The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has ruled out arson in the recent market fires, urging anyone with contrary information to provide it to them so that immediate action can be taken.

The service claims that its preliminary investigation into the Kantamanto market fire and other markets is due to harmattan and human error on the part of traders.

The Public Relations Officer of GNFS, D.O Desmond Ackah, explained on Rainbow Radio’s 'Nyankonton Mu Nsem' that some of the markets that have experienced outbreaks can be attributed to harmattan or a situation in which traders failed to turn off their switches after work.

He advised the public to desist from peddling false information and provide them with any credible information if they have any.

”Our preliminary investigation since the Kantamanto fire outbreak, the one at Techiman, Madina, and the Kejetia fire outbreak shows that the harmattan is causing the outbreaks. Another issue we discovered is that some traders leave their gadgets and sockets turned on after they leave work. These items can overheat, resulting in a fire outbreak. Others choose to burn their waste rather than hand it over to waste collectors, which is risky because fires can easily spread and cause an outbreak due to weather changes,” he retorted.

He also stressed, “The bottom line is that our own human factors and failure to adhere to fire safety are causing these challenges.” However, if anyone has credible information that the recent market outbreaks were caused by arsonists, we would like them to provide it to us so that we can deal with them. We would quickly arrest and prosecute these individuals. However, in the meantime, harmattan, dryness, and some Ghanaians’ failure to strictly adhere to safety issues are the reasons why we are witnessing market fire outbreaks”.

Watch eyewitnesses share their perspectives on how the Kantamanto fire broke out: