Fire has ravaged 17 stores – 15 of them made of freight containers and the other two built from traditional materials – at Asokwa Tunsuom in the Bekwai municipality of the Ashanti Region.

The inferno started around 6 p.m. on Monday, 6 January 2020 and destroyed properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis.

Although all the items locked up in the stores were burnt and destroyed beyond recognition, a Bible retrieved from the debris was unscathed.

The containers and stores destroyed include provision shops, a book shop, a pharmacy, among others.

The swift response of a joint team of firefighters from Bekwai and Fomena brought the fire under control.

The Bekwai Municipal Fire Commander, DO2 Amos Abban told Kumasi FM's Elisha Adarkwah that the combustibility of the items helped the fire to spread speedily.

DO2 Abban said he had to call for the deployment of additional fire tenders and personnel from the Fomena station to support the fight against the inferno.

No life was lost, he said, adding that an investigation has commenced to unravel the cause of the fire.