At least 17 shops at the Suame Magazine in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ashanti, have been flattened by fire that swept through the area on Sunday. The fire, which started around 1:30 PM, gutted the shops before Fire Service personnel were able to bring the situation under control. It brings to three, the number of fire outbreaks recorded in the country in just 24 hours, after similar cases were recorded at the Tema industrial area and the slum around Nkrumah circle in Accra, popularly called Ecomog on Saturday. Several property running into thousands of Ghana Cedis have been lost in the fire. Luv FM’s Kwabena Ampratwum reported that the Electricity Company may this time round could be absolved from any blame, as the area did not have power at the time of the incident. He said however that, it is alleged someone may have set fire near one of the shops, which got out of control and spread into other shops. Kwabena said owners of affected shops who are mostly dealers in vehicular spare parts, are devastated as most of them do not have insurance policies covering their shops.