The Navrongo Youth Resource Centre fire; what we know so far
The fire destroyed several items including glass windows, PVC pipes, seats, doors and electric poles at the huge sports facility.
Fire has destroyed portions of the yet-to-be completed youth resource centre in Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region.
The fire destroyed several items including glass windows, PVC pipes, seats, doors and electric poles at the huge sports facility.
The fire is said to have happened in the morning of Sunday 18th February.
According to gatekeepers, it is suspected that the fire was started by a smoker who may have entered the facility through a broken part of the fence wall.
The fire first completely burnt to ashes the withered grasses on the football pitch, before spreading to the buildings.
Many of the seats in the two popular stands were burnt beyond repair. The fire also brought down two electricity poles and plunged the facility into darkness.
It took the intervention of the Ghana National Fire Service to douse what could have been a devastating fire.
The cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed, as the Ghana National Fire Service continues its investigation.
Ngosiwine Gideon, the project manager, who is worried the significant damages caused by the fire would delay the project, provided more details to Mike Fm.
“The incident happened around Sunday morning around 10 am thereabout. Initially, we called the fire service, they came the first time to put off the fire. But maybe either it was not put off properly or they couldn’t detect a piece of fire. so, when they left the fire started again about an hour later.”
“We have lost a lot of items. The seats, the doors, the glass sliding windows and the grass we planted has all been burnt. Due to that, we don’t have electricty,”
Public reaction to incident
The incident has sparked anger among residents who have continually appealed to the government to complete the all-important sports and youth resource facility which was started in 2018.
In June 2022, the youth of the town went on a street protest against the government for failing to complete and hand over the project within schedule.
The Youth Resource Centre which comes with a football pitch, restaurant, offices and other facilities, is one of its kind in the Upper East Region and one of ten built across the country by the State.
The youth in that protest said among other things that the posture of the government to concerns of the Navrongo people suggested it did not care about them.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Joseph Adongo, when contacted declined to speak, saying he was yet to visit the facility to have a good understanding of the unfortunate incident.
The Navrongo municipal fire service department also declined to comment on the issue. Sources within the service have, however, said an investigation has begun to ascertain the cause of the devastating fire.
Mike Fm|Navrongo
