A fire outbreak at the girls’ dormitory of Pong Tamale Senior High School has affected 147 first-year female students, destroying their chop boxes, mattresses, books and other personal belongings.
The incident occurred on the night of Monday, February 2, while the affected students were on vacation. Out of the 358 female students housed in the dormitory, only Form One students were impacted by the fire.
The Headmaster of the school, Atimbisah Francis, confirmed the incident in an interview with Channel One TV on Tuesday, February 3, and appealed for urgent support for the school and the affected students.
During a visit by the Northern Regional Director of Education, the Headmaster said many of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, making it difficult for their families to replace the items lost in the fire.
“We have 358 students occupying this facility. But those who are affected are the Form One students who are currently at home. And their number is 147. So we can approximate it to 147 students whose chalk boxes, books and mattresses have been bent.
“What’s your difficult moment? We are appealing to stakeholders, the government, the municipal assembly and the PTA to come to our aid. Because some of our students are from homes that are always very difficult for them to secure all the things that have been destroyed by the fire,” he said.
Pong Tamale Senior High School thus becomes the latest second-cycle institution in the Northern Region to record a fire outbreak, following a blaze that gutted parts of the girls’ dormitory and renewed concerns over fire safety in boarding schools.
The incident adds to a growing list of recent fire outbreaks involving senior high schools in the northern part of the country.
Preliminary information indicates that the fire started from the washrooms, triggering panic and prompting swift efforts to alert emergency responders to prevent further damage.
Firefighters from the Savelugu Fire Station were quickly deployed to the school and successfully contained and extinguished the blaze, preventing it from spreading to other dormitories and academic facilities on the campus.
