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SOME PEOPLE in Kumasi started the New Year on a sour note as a ferocious inferno gutted their stores, destroying valuable wares kept in them.

The fire reportedly started barely two hours after the New Year had been ushered in, leaving behind serious damages.

Eyewitnesses report indicated that the blaze started in a certain shop at Roman Hill – close to the Kumasi Central Market – around 2am.

They claimed that electricity supply to the neighbourhood was cut and when it was restored, they saw a thick smoke emanating from one of the shops.

Within minutes, the smoke turned into fire, which travelled at top speed, due to the dry weather, consuming five shops in the process.

Fire fighters responded swiftly to the distress call as they quickly rushed to the place to douse the blaze, which by then had swallowed eight shops.

The items destroyed by the inferno included generators, fridges,  second-hand clothing, among others.

There were melancholic spectacles at the disaster scene when DAILY GUIDE visited Roman Hill around 7:00 am on the New Year’s Day (Fiday, January 1).

Most of the affected people were seen wailing openly and cursing their stars for starting 2016 on such a bitter note.

The affected people said they had lost their source of livelihood and appealed to the government to come to their aid.