There was heated argument between the Ashanti Regional Fire Commander and the Chief Executive for Ahafo Ano South West District, Patrick Adusei, as the DCE complained that the unavailability of fire tender at Mankraso contributed to the delay in fighting the Onyinanufo fuel tanker explosion Monday afternoon.
According to the DCE, the Assembly has built an ultra-modern fire station with its internally generated fund (IGF) but the Ashanti Regional Fire Command has over a year now refused to post personnel to man the fire station, despite several requests.
The DCE is of the view that managing Monday’s fire would have been swifter if the Mankraso Fire Station was operational.
He lamented that a fire tender was rather called from Bechem in the Bono Region to douse the fire.
At least, three people were killed after a fuel tanker hit a passenger vehicle at Onyinanufo, a community in the Ahafo Ano South West District of the Ashanti Region, and caught fire.
According to eyewitnesses, the tanker driver had lost control and rammed into the passenger vehicle on the Kumasi-Tepa road.
It took fire firefighters more than 2 hours to control the inferno after it had torched more than 10 houses, leaving dozens injured and others displaced.
Responding to the DCE’s claims, spokesperson for the Ashanti Regional Fire Command DOIII Ackah Desmond on Akoma FM‘s current affairs and political show GhanAkoma told host Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that “the DCE has not provided accommodations for the personnel who will be posted and how do you expect them to deliver if the same people who are expected to work have no where to lay their heads and they cannot me moving from Kumasi to Mankraso everyday”.
In a back-and-forth argument on the morning show, both reached a consensus with the DCE agreeing to temporarily prepare accommodation for the personnel of the Command for immediate deployment.
If duly operational, the Mankraso Fire Station will serve households and facilities within the enclave including two major highways – Kumasi-Sunyani and Mankraso-Tepa stretches.