Jan 16, 2013 at 7:45am

The timely efforts of the workers of the National Service Secretariat and personnel of the Ghana Fire Service was enough to bring under control, fire that threatened to destroy the offices of the National Service Secretariat in Accra.

The fire, according to Fire Service personnel on the ground, caused by non-vigilance on the part of the kitchen staff.

Citi News reporter, Richard Sky indicated that sections of the Secretariat's kitchen were however destroyed.

No casualties were however recorded.

One of the workers of the Secretariat who assisted with the rescue efforts told Citi News in an interview, "we have two huge stoves which they use to bake the pie and other pasteries. The lady had apparently turned one on and was about to set the second one on; she opened and turned the gas of the 14 kg cylinder on. When she struck the match, apparently the hose leading to that stove was leaking and she didn't know and it just caught fire. It was so close to the cylinder then apparently the cylinder head was still blowing the gas and affected two of our 36 kg cylinders, which are very big. "

He noted that though the fire affected some of the wooden sections of the kitchen, their traning in the use of the fire extinguishers helped in controlling the fire from extending to other sections of the Secretariat.

He emphasized however, "the damage is minimal and we have to thank God because it could have been worse."

The Station Officer at the Ghana National Fire Service, Seth Nii Otoo told Citi News "this morning, around 6:30 AM, they rushed to tell us about this fire outbreak. It took us about four minutes to get to the scene."

He noted that by the time personnel got to the scene, workers of the Secretariat had managed to put out the fire with available fire extinguishers.


Below is a map of the area where the National Service Secretariat Office is located


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By: Philip Kofi Ashon/citifmonline.com/Ghana