GNFS Begins Investigations Into Ashfoam Inferno

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has opened investigations into an inferno that destoryed the Curing Department of the Ashfoam Company Limited on Monday night.

“As at now, the cause of the fire is not verified. The Fire Service team has started conducting their investigations to ascertain what exactly caused the fire outbreak,” the Marketing and Communications Manager at the company, Joe Darko said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.

The department is where the foams go through various testing for quality control checks before they would be released onto the market.

Mr Darko said the area has been cordoned off by the Ghana National Fire Service so that evidence would not to be tampered with.

As a result, staff in that department would be relocated to other departments until investigations were completed.

According to him, the damage done to the products, the factory and the other cost could not be quantified.

He said the company has an in-house fire team which attempted to douse the fire before personnel of the GNFS responded to quench the fire.

The company at the time of the fire outbreak, Mr Darko said, met all of its fire safety audit mechanisms.

He commended personnel of the GNFS and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) for swiftly responding to the distress call made to them, adding that the inferno was brought under control within two hours.

No casualties, he said, were recorded and that the company was opened to business yesterday.

The North Industrial Fire Station Commander, Osmond Annum, commended the volunteers for their hard work and cooperation leading to the extinguishment of the fire and advised the public to be fire ready and call the service on time in case of any outbreak.

The fire engulfed the warehouse at the North Industrial Area, Accra, destroying raw materials and mattresses worth millions of Ghana cedis.

The fire started at about 8.05pm, in the warehouse spreading to other parts of the factory.