W/R: Entire building of Administrator of Stool Lands catches fire

The entire structure housing the Western Regional Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands went up in flames Sunday morning. The  second floor of the building together with the roofing collapsed as the fire rages on. Though eye witnesses suspect power fluctuation which occurred around 7:00 am in Sekondi, some a pointing to arson. The incident is happening a day to the resumption of a new Regional Commissioner into office. The fire was said to have started from the commissioner’s office formerly occupied by one Seth Owusu Boakye. An officer of the Lands Commission who was returning from church service on seeing the smoke dashed into the building for a fire extinguisher, fortunately firefighters with their tender arrived at the scene. Though personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service did their best, the overbearing fire kept spreading into adjourning offices. Most part of the building was made of wood which aided the spreading of the fire. At least 8 fire tenders were at the scene battling the fire that has been raging for hours, consuming everything on its way including air conditioners, office stationery, furniture and valuable documents covering various lands in the Western Region. For instance, cadastral plans, plans of upcoming projects, stamping, as well as stool lands documents in all 35 offices have been burnt into ashes. Some of the workers whose offices were destroyed tell editors.3news.com it will be difficult to recover the documents. Unfortunately, activities in these offices are not automated, editors.3news.com gathered. A revenue officer who doesn’t want to be named said thousands of cedis in revenue collected from the previous week would possibly be lost to the fire. The deputy Western Regional Minister Gifty Kusi, Regional NADMO Coordinator Abdul Ganiyu, Sekondi-Takoradi Mayor Anthony K.K Sam are among other officers who have visited the scene. By Eric Yaw Adjei | editors.3news.com | Takoradi