Fire guts Shaft FM
An Obuasi-based radio station, Shaft FM, was last Saturday gutted by fire.
The studio and administration offices were razed by the fire which started around 3:15 p.m.
It is alleged to have been started by sparks from the electrical wires of one of the air conditioners in the studio.
Staff members who were on duty at the time ran for their lives and left behind their personal effects.
Not even the timely arrival of the personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service could help salvage anything from the fire.
Eyewitness
A staff of the radio station, Mr Emmanuel Agyemfra Boateng, told the Daily Graphic that around 3:10 p.m., the studio experienced a power fluctuation and "we thought it was the normal power outages.
"However, about five minutes later we heard an explosion and shouts of fire", he said.
According to him, when they came out, "we saw one of the air conditioners on. We tried to quench the fire with the fire extinguishers at the place, but we could not operate them."
He said a call was made to the fire service and the personnel got to the scene within 10 minutes but "the entire building was gone."
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Obuasi Municipal Fire Officer, Divisional Officer III, Mr Ben O. Carlis-Paittoo, said his men got the call around 3:15 p.m. and got to the scene around 3:30p.m.
"By the time we got to the scene, the whole place was ablaze and together with the fire personnel from Anglogold Ashanti, we managed to douse the fire," he said.
Causes
Although the fire service is yet to investigate the cause, Mr Carlis-Paittoo said preliminary investigation showed that it might have been caused by a spark from the air conditioner.
According to him, the entire building was a container that had been lined with foam to serve as sound proof.
Besides this, he said, the management of the station also kept extra 45 pieces of foam it had bought for refurbishment.
DO III Carlis-Paittoo said he believed that these items might have served as fuel for the fire to spread.
Advice
DO III Carlis-Paittoo advised companies and organisations to ensure proper fire safety measures at their work places to avoid some of these incidents.
He also pleaded with employers to organise fire fighting and safety courses for their employees to prepare them for such eventualities.
According to him, if the company had done that, maybe the staff would have been in a position to operate the fire extinguishers and could have averted the loss.