Fire has gutted some shops at the Bogoso Junction in Tarkwa in the Western Region Monday morning. Tarkwa-based Space FM's Nana Esi Brew Monney, who witnessed the fire personally, told Joy FM's Super Morning Show that the fire started at around 5am in area that houses almost all the artisans in the Tarkwa Municipality. According to her, five shops and a car have been burnt to ashes by the fire, which at the time of the report had been brought under control by personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service. Nana Esi said that the artisans in the area dealt in several items including car parts, caterpillar parts, and air conditioners. According to her, the artisans suspect that an area man who works with fire may have started the blaze. Meanwhile, Prince Billy Anaglatey, Public Relations Officer of Ghana National Fire Service, said on the Super Morning Show that in light of the recent spate of fire outbreaks across the country, the general public should be very careful when dealing with fire. Fire has in the past few days gutted shops, houses and businesses in Suame Magazine in Kumasi, Accra suburb ECOMOG, and B.B.C. Paints in Tema. With the onset of the harmattan dry season, he said that people “have not regarded its impact and its effects when it comes to this period… We should identify the devastating effects that the harmattan” has on us “so we should just be careful the way we handle anything within our premises.” “Every little thing becomes dry because of the moisture content which is taken away” during harmattan, and therefore fires can start easily, he added. Prince Anaglatey observed that people often fail to inform the Fire Service of fires in time. He encouraged the general public to be proactive in informing the service about fire outbreaks quickly. Asked what could have been the cause of the outbreak at the B.B.C. Paints, he said that the Ghana Fire Service has initiated investigations to establish the cause of the fire that engulfed the paint manufacturing plant Saturday night.