Residents of Wilkinson Road in Freetown and environs have showered praises on one of Sierra Leone’s top Lebanese business tycoons, Ashraf Hakan, Chief Executive Officer of Akkad Service Center and the Ashraf Foundation.
As part of his usual timely supports to communities across the country, Mr. Hakan individually sacrificed his time, risking his precious life to put off a blazing fire, thereby saving many other houses from setting ablaze.
On Destiny Drive, back of Family Choice off Wilkinson Road, a zinc house owned by a poor family was ablaze. Seeing the heavy smoke coming from the house and hearing distressed calls from the residents, Mr. Hakan rushed to his store, collected his equipment and ran to the scene.
Ashraf, an area man in the community who get to know these people by rendering daily help, heard the cry of a little child and rushed with an extension (extinguisher) to help put out the fire but was not enough as he later connected his water machine and run water from a water well near a mosque and connect his washing machine and start spraying water again until the fire starts going off.
What shocked onlookers the most, was Mr. Hakan sacrifice to walk right into the fire blazing house, with not much firefighting gears and pump water on the fire to turn it off.
In few minutes, Mr. Hakan succeeded in turning off the fire hours before the coming of Fire Force to the scene. His heroic move saved the wild fire from transferring to other nearby houses which were already highly at risk.
Speaking to AYV News, Mr. Hakan said: “I was in my office when I saw the smoke from the building and heard distressed calls from residents. So, I immediately rushed to my store, collected some of my machines and rushed to the scene. I used my water pumping machine to put off the fire successfully.
“Thanks to one good neighbor by the name of RSLAF who also lives in the same community as a garage owner in the community with his swift intervention with his washing machine which he used to halt the fire for not spreading to other houses before the arrival of fire force fighters in the scene.
Mr. Ashraf Hakan has called on the Fire Force agency to get a 4×4 tanker that can easily go through corner roads with almost the same amount of water like the big trucks and be of help before it gets to a situation where the fire gets out of control as most times. He said it is impossible for these big fire trucks to make their way through.
He has been working behind the scenes with fire victims and has been giving assistance in every possible ways. He said it means nothing to render help and be of assistance whenever needed. He is a legitimate businessman that owns a garage and also the The Ashraraf Charity Foundation.
He has been working behind the scenes with fire victims and been given assistance in every possible ways as he said earlier that it means nothing to render help and be of assistance whenever needed.
Mr. Hakan has always supported the fight on fire incidents even beyond his community. He is a man well-known for his generosity, as he also owned a whole children foundation to support children in his community.
Through his Ashraraf Charity Foundation, a Non-Government Organisation aimed at serving humanity and working to help needy, donated two containers of mattress and other much needed items to the Male Correctional Center on Pademba road in Freetown, after a fire incident that heavily destroyed the Center.
Akkad Service Center is a Chauffeur service located at 40 Wilkinson Road in Freetown. They diagnose missing keys and make them look like the original, service and repair land rovers and other cars and also serve as dealers in car parts, cars and many more.
