The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has rejected claims by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) that challenges in taming the fire which ravaged a three-storey building at Makola market on Monday, were a result of low pressure in fire hydrants.

The GNFS had on the day of the fire said they had to travel long distances to fill the fire tenders because the hydrants within the central business district were nonfunctional.

PRO of the Service, Ellis Robinson Okoe who spoke to Joy News at the scene of the fire, said ‘it’s unfortunate, all the hydrants within the Central business district have low pressure. So we had to go to other areas like Circle and Alajo to fill the tenders”.

When asked why the low-pressure problem had not been fixed he said, “we all know that we pay a certain one per cent to Ghana Water Company. So if any of the GWCL officials are here, they can answer”.

Subsequently, Chief Fire Officer at the GNFS, Edwin Ekow Blankson, also alleged that all fire hydrants within the central business district had been sealed since 1992.

But addressing a press conference Thursday, Chief Manager of GWCL in the Accra East Region, Ing. Emmanuel Johnson said the account by the fire service cannot be true.

He mentioned that there are 70 hydrants within the Accra East Region with eleven of them in the Makola area alone. So it cannot be possible that the hydrants have been dysfunctional.

“GWCL can never be blamed in any way for the inability of the GNFS to fight or douse the fire on Monday to the expectation of the general public”, he said.

He continued to say, “the GNFS should therefore adhere to their standard procedures. Actually, they need to check all their hydrants and make sure there is water in them and stop blaming other people for their insufficiencies”.