A devastating fire outbreak occurred on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at Nogora junction near Ho Technical University, destroying the popular Nogora pub and five other shops.

The cause of the fire is not immediately known.

An eyewitness, Franklin, a baker who works directly opposite Nogora pub and food joint spoke to Class News. 

"We were in our shop and suddenly saw the flames but we thought it might be someone burning some items but the smoke grew intensely," he said.

"We started shouting for help before some students and residents came out only to see the shops engulfed by the fire and we all started fetching water whiles others kept calling the Ghana National Fire Service," he added.

Another eyewitness, Mathew Kudahe, a commercial tricycle (keke) driver also said he was conveying passengers from the Ho township to Ho Technical University when he saw the fire. 

According to him, though officials of the Ghana National Fire Service responded promptly, it took them about 30 minutes to start fighting.

"When the fire tenders arrived, we were expecting them to start fighting the fire, only for us to be told that they were waiting for the Electricity Company of Ghana to put off the lights before they could start their operation. This delayed the fighting of the fire and has caused lots of damages," he said.

"Secondly, the fire tender was not having enough compression for the water to go far to fight the fire until another car [came]. So all these has also affected the fighting of the fire," he lamented.

He urged the authorities to invest in the fire fighting equipment and address the challenges of the Ghana National Fire Service to ensure their swift, efficient and effective response to disasters.

Despite the swift response by the fire service, the intensity of the fire made it difficult to contain, causing lots of damages to properties.

The Ho Municipal Fire Station Officer, DOII Seth Tay, said they received a phone call as at 5:50 PM indicating a fire outbreak at Nogora junction and, swiftly, they responded by coming to the scene.

According to him, upon their arrival and assessment, they "realised six containers have been caught up in the fire and we quickly began to fight the fire but due to the intensity of the fire, it took us two hours to bring it under control".

"Unfortunately, the containers were directly under the high tension poles," he added.

"Due to this, we had to make a phone call to the Electricity Company of Ghana to switch off the lights before we could operate because we needed to protect the lives of the personnel on the ground from electric shock and electrocution to enable them stay alive and fight the fire.

"After 5 minutes, the power was put off and we started fighting the fire but due to the intensity of the fire, it took us 2 hours to bring it under control. It was a very heavy challenge for us though we [successfully] brought the fire under control [eventually]."

"We are yet to know the cause as the situation is still under investigation," he noted.

The Ho Municipal Officer of the Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Christian Youngs, has assured the victims will be attended to, though not comprehensively.

He appealed to shop owners to desist from putting their containers under high tension electricity poles. 

According to him, about four shops were placed around a high tension pole, which made it very difficult for ECG personnel to access the pole to switch off the power. 

Even though the fire has been contained, business owners are distressed as they continue counting their losses.