Kumasi, March 7, GNA - Fire on Tuesday night swept through the Anloga timber market in Kumasi and destroyed property worth millions of cedis. The fire, which started at about 2000 hours, took Ghana National Fire Service personnel with six fire tenders over seven hours to be brought under control.

An eyewitness, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency at the scene on Wednesday morning, said the intensity of the blazing fire coupled with the inaccessibility of the fire tenders to the market, hampered the efforts of fire officers to bring it under control. Fire officers had to take positions around the market to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby houses.

Among the items destroyed were furniture, carpentry machines and tools, personal belongings of the carpenters and timber merchants as well as other wood products that were either under construction or ready for the market.

Reverend Togbe Fugah, an opinion leader at the market who spoke to the almost the entire market and rendered over 600 carpenters jobless and is a huge financial loss for traders.

Mr Reynold Debrah, the Ashanti Regional chairman of the Woodworkers Association of Ghana (WAG), appealed to the government to come to the aid of the victims in the form of equipment and other financial assistance.

He appealed to contractors, whose jobs were with the affected carpenters, to exercise restraint to enable them reorganize and produce the items for them.