Also destroyed were valuable documents being printed by the press, including tax stamps for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but the Ghana Fire Service said it received a distress call at about midday that there had been a fire outbreak at Kokomlemle.

Destruction

All five printing machines and other equipment that serve the press were burnt completely.

The Business Manager of the press, Sam Yeboah, who was visibly distraught when the GNFS arrived at the scene, estimated property destroyed at about GHC1 million.

“Finished printing jobs for the GRA – vehicle tax stamps for nationwide distribution all burnt,” he said.

He said they could not say what might have caused the fire, but they detected smoke coming from one of the working areas and “by the time we knew, it had become a raging fire and though we called the Fire Service promptly, we could not salvage anything,” Mr Yeboah said.

Fire outbreaks

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Fire Service is alarmed by the increase in cases since December 2022.

The Service says they recorded about 624 fire cases in December 2022 – a 10 per cent increment compared to the same time in 2021.

According to the statistics from the GNFS, 226 of those cases were recorded in a week – between December 25 and December 31.