A section of the Industrial Art Department of the Ho Polytechnic has been gutted by fire.
The block, which is largely made of wood, houses the offices of some lecturers and a lecture hall. The structure which shares a wall with the Fashion Department used to belong to the Fashion Department.
Students who informed DAILY GUIDE about the incident said the fire started at about midnight between last Friday and Saturday. They noted that but for the timely intervention of personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), many other buildings within the area would have been destroyed.
Lecturers of the department hinted that the items lost ran into several thousands of Ghana cedis. Some of the items destroyed include hundreds of textbooks, a colour printer, works of 80 students, unmarked scripts of students, documents and certificates of both students and lecturers, among others.
One of the lecturers, Patricia Takyi, stated that the fire disaster was very devastating to both lecturers and students since the losses were on both sides.
The lecturers and their students called on philanthropists and other faith-based organisations to come to their aid, especially in the area of textbooks and other equipment since the department is just two years old. The Assistant Registrar in charge of Public Relations, Isaac Meyir, told DAILY GUIDE that the Fire Service was yet to make a report available for them to know the cause of the fire.
Meanwhile, he said measures were being put in place to ensure that such an incident did not recur. He was thankful to the firemen, noting that but for their swiftness, the ICT lab for the Fashion Department near the burnt offices would have been affected.
Mr Meyir urged students to remain calm as the authorities were putting measures in place to ensure that their academic work was not stalled.
The firemen also gave the assurance that they would conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire. They also called on the public to observe preventive fire measures and be prompt in contacting their office at the instance of any potential or actual fire.
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