FIRE DESTROYS RESEARCH INSTITUTE (Page 43)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga

A number of office equipment, including computers and photocopiers, as well as vital research files and documents, were destroyed when fire swept through one of the offices of the Navrongo Health Research Institute in the Kassena-Nankana District of the Upper East Region in the early hours of Friday.
So intense was the blaze that it took the joint effort of personnel of the Fire Service in Navrongo and Bolgatanga to bring the situation under control. Sources told the Daily Graphic that it took them about two and half hours to bring the situation under control.
The cause of the fire was not known at the time of filing this report.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on phone, the Director of the institute, Dr Abraham Hodgeson, said the fire started at 3.00 a.m. According to him, initially watchmen on duty attempted to fight the fire with the aid of fire extinguishers, while efforts were made to call in the District Fire Service.
He said the Regional Fire Office was also informed and the men arrived a short while later to complement the efforts of the District Fire Service.
Dr Hodgeson said the fire had caused great loss to the centre. He, however, gave the assurance that every necessary effort had been made to mitigate the effect it might have on the work of the centre.
He said officials of the Fire Service who had been to the scene had commenced investigations to ascertain the cause of the fire and estimate the total cost of destruction.
The Regional Fire Officer, Mr Johnson Abu, said his office received a distress call at 4.15 a.m. on Friday and immediately a fire engine was dispatched to Navrongo to assist in the fire fighting.
He said the absence of a hydrant at the centre and the faulty fire engine at the Navrongo Fire Station posed big challenges to the output of his men who eventually managed to bring the situation under control.
In a related development, another fire outbreak occurred at the Cotton Factory at Pusunamongo in the early hours of Friday.
According to Mr Abu, his office received a distress call at 4.30 a.m., just about the same time that the only fire engine had gone to assist fight the fire at Navrongo.
The service, therefore, had to rely on the fire engine at Bongo, which, unfortunately, developed a fault and broke down while it was on its way to Bolgatanga.
He said the only option left was to recall the Bolgatanga fire engine which had gone to Navrongo to return to Bolgatanga to help fight the fire, while contact was made with the Walewale Fire Service to help contain the situation.