Correspondence from Ashanti Region

A fire that gutted the boys dormitory of SIMMS Senior High School destroyed items such as students’ mattresses, beds, chop boxes, and everything including an unspecified amount of cash.

GhanaWeb can report that almost all the male boarding students in Form One had their items burnt into ashes. The fire was tense to the extent that almost all the rooms on the last floor, being occupied by the form one students were totally destroyed including all items.

However, it is reported that only one room was left on that ground.

Mr. Kwabena Quayning, an old student and a teacher at the school, speaking on behalf of the school authorities disclosed that the incident occurred when teaching and learning were seriously in session.

According to him, at around 11:30am, information reached them that the boys dormitory was on fire. He further revealed that they rushed to the scene only to find out that the fierce fire was seriously destroying the dormitory from the top.

He said a call was immediately placed to the fire service station adding that the intensity of the fire made it very difficult for it to be put under control by ordinary persons.

According to him, by the time the fire service personnel arrived at the scene, the damage had already been done.

"Three rooms on the top floor including everything burnt totally. Rooms on the first floor had totally got burnt.

He however commended the personnel for their effort that led to the control of the fire from further spreading to the other floors.

"Everything got out of control at the time. I'm not a house master but, to my estimation, over 400 students were affected. Their trunks, their chop boxes, mattresses, and other petty petty things, I mean everything. Even most of the metal beds were affected to the extent that what we can do is to turn them into scraps," he disclosed.

He therefore appealed to the government to immediately complete an ongoing dormitory project in the school so that the students may have some comfortable place to live.

According to him, the nature of the fire has affected the building to the extent that the ground floor cannot be used anymore.

Meanwhile, some students who spoke with GhanaWeb sadly revealed that items such as books, mattresses, bedsheets, trunks, chop boxes, and varied amounts of cash were all burnt. The stranded students said all hope had been lost following the hard hit by the fire.

They are however appealing to the government and other philanthropic individuals to come to their aid since things were very difficult for them.

"It took our parents many days to get these items for us, and sadly, here we are losing them to a fire just within a second. The students told this reporter.

"I have lost everything including a cash amount of GH¢500.00. You see, the only thing left is the school uniform I'm wearing," a student lamented.

Most of the students, specifically the form ones said, they had only been left with the school uniforms they wore to classrooms before the the fire outbreak.

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