Fire Guts Ridge Hospital ®
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
PERSONNEL of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) lived up to expectation yesterday as they were able to halt a fire which broke out at a section of the emergency quarters for staff of the Ridge Hospital in Accra.

Although no casualties were recorded, the fire destroyed 75 percent of items and other equipment in the affected rooms including GH¢1,018.
An eyewitness, Isaac Acquaye who could not tell what caused the fire said it started about 11:15am from the first room of the block which is occupied by the night superintendent.

“The moment I saw smoke coming from the quarters, I together with two others got some sachets of pure water to quench it but we could not,” he said.
Acquaye said in their bid to stop the fire from spreading to the adjoining rooms on the block, they decided to call in the fire service personnel.
Sillim Sayers, Health Service Administrator at the hospital and an eyewitness also said the fire destroyed everything in the first room but some items including hospital documents, books, water, mattresses, furniture and the television were savaged by staff from the other rooms.

Regional Fire Commander at Makola, Edwin Ekow Blankson, briefing the press said the service arrived at the scene within five minutes after receiving a call about a fire outbreak at the Ridge Hospital around 11:30am.
He told DAILY GUIDE the building was still intact as fire personnel were able to contain the fire within twenty minutes. “There is no way the fire could move beyond the set boundary,” he added.
He was unable to establish the cause of the fire and or the extent of damage immediately, adding that a committee will be set up to investigate the incident.
Dr. Obeng Apori, Medical Director of Ridge Hospital commended the fire service for their swift response to the distress call.
“If it had not been for the swift intervention of the fire service, the situation would have been very disastrous.”
He later called on government to refurbish the hospital in order to avoid a recurrence of the event.