Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), has refuted assertions that personnel of the Fire Service delayed unduly in dousing the fire that destroyed goods worth millions of Ghana cedis at the Makola Market in Accra on Monday.

Speaking with JoyNews on TopStory, Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe revealed that his outfit was alerted about the fire outbreak at 9am, three hours after the fire started.

 “I disagree because the first tender that arrived came in time. If they had called us around 6:30am when the fire started, we would have been able to douse the fire before it got to this stage.

“When we came, we interviewed some people and they said it started at 6:30am but we came here at 10 minutes past 9am. Look at the difference in time. So we cannot be blamed, we have only come in here to assist,” he disclosed.

His comment comes as a response to concerns raised by scores on social media who lamented the Fire Service's untimely intervention. They were particularly worried about the revelation by AMA boss, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, that the fire personnel had to go as far as Circle, Kaneshie to fetch water, before arriving at the scene.

Traders who lost their goods to the fire also pointed accusing fingers at personnel of the Fire Service for their woes.

But Ellis Robinson Okoe denied claims that the fire tenders that were deployed to the scene did not contain water. However, he affirmed that a critical area such as the Makola market that has witnessed fire outbreaks over the years needed two fire engines to battle the fire.

Meanwhile, reports from JoyNews' Maxwell Agbagba at the scene as of 8pm reveal that the Fire Service is still battling the fire.

He noted that there has been a resurgence of the fire at the cosmetic shop wing of the market where highly inflammable items such as perfumes are sold.

Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe, confirmed that the fire has reignited, "the different combustible materials that are in the fire are reacting in different ways. We realized that mosquito sprays and other materials exploded at a different points in time."

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Fire Service has given the assurance that its officers will not leave the scene until the fire has been totally quenched.