Bawku (U/E) May 16, GNA-Two compound houses, about 100 meters apart, accommodating 12 families and their dependants, were burnt to ashes in two separate fire outbreaks on Saturday at Bawku. Personal belongings and electrical appliances, worth over 200 million cedis and four million cash, were also burnt in the process. The first incident occurred at 1015 hours and hardly had it died down when the second fire began at 1305 hours.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency on the incidents, the Bawku Municipal Fire Officer, Mr. Dominic Denku, said all the fire outbreaks were due to negligence.

According to him, the landlord in the first house said on Monday evening whilst he was heating water, the units of the prepaid meter got finished and the lights went off.

He said the landlord forgot to switch the heater and the other electrical gadgets off before going out. Mr. Denku said the next day the brother of the landlord was recharging the meter with units he did not notice that the appliances were still on since the landlord's door was locked.

He explained that after some minutes, the water in the plastic cup dried up and the container melted and caught fire that engulf the house. Mr Denku said in the second circumstance, an inmate of the house after cooking placed the used firewood on top of the unused one after quenching it with water.

He said after some minutes, the fire re-ignited in the used firewood and spread to the unused one, which came into contact with the electrical wires in the house, leading to a fire outbreak. Mr. Denku expressed deep concern about the illegal connections in the area, which has led to rampant fire outbreak in the municipality. He said the response of the fire service was prompt, but due to the inaccessibility of the road networks, personnel could not get to the dangers spots on time.