By: Belinda Nketia
A fire outbreak near the Circle VVIP Station on Tuesday, January 20, 2025, has reignited concerns over inadequate firefighting equipment, after the Ghana National Fire Service said the nearest fire station was unable to respond due to a faulty fire tender.
The incident has highlighted long-standing gaps in emergency response readiness. The government has acknowledged the need to modernise the national fleet, with plans to acquire new fire tenders to replace ageing and broken-down vehicles, some nearly a decade old. Officials said the initiative aims to ensure faster and more effective responses, addressing public frustrations when fires are not attended to promptly, a problem made clear when the Circle Fire Station could not deploy.
DO2 Desmond Ackah, a spokesperson for the service, said the Circle Fire Station, located just meters from the incident scene, could not respond because its fire engine had developed a major mechanical fault. As a result, the Industrial Area Fire Station responded to the emergency, arriving within five minutes after a distress call was received at 10:07 a.m.
By the time firefighters arrived, the blaze had already reached an advanced stage, forcing emergency crews to adopt a strategic containment approach.
DO2 Desmond Ackah said five fire tenders and a water tanker were deployed to control the fire, which destroyed several makeshift structures located between the VVIP transport terminal and a nearby GOIL filling station.
Firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to the Royal VVIP terminal and the fuel station, reducing the risk of a larger disaster. However, explosions were recorded during operations, believed to have been caused by combustible materials including cosmetic products and gas cylinders retrieved from the scene.
DO2 Desmond Ackah said accessibility challenges significantly slowed firefighting efforts. He cited congested structures and limited access routes in the area, which forced crews to break through a wall separating the Royal VVIP terminal from the fire zone to reach the heart of the blaze.
“The situation would have been brought under control much earlier if we had direct access,” he said, and called on city authorities to modernize informal market areas by providing fire hydrants and wider access routes.
He also appealed to the government to accelerate the procurement of new fire tenders. According to him, using the aging equipment continues to affect response efficiency.
DO2 Desmond Ackah referenced government assurances to supply additional fire engines to strengthen the national fleet.
“The machines are old, and some breakdowns are costly to fix. We need new fire tenders to improve response time and tactical operations,” he said.
Power supply to the area was temporarily cut during the operation after the Electricity Company of Ghana was alerted to isolate exposed wiring that posed additional risks to firefighters.
As of the latest update, the fire had been largely contained, with crews conducting cooling and excavation exercises to extinguish remaining pockets of fire. Authorities have not yet confirmed casualties, while damage assessments remain ongoing.
