Kumasi, Feb. 7, GNA – The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is strengthening its patrols in markets, bus terminals and commercial centres as part of efforts to respond promptly to fire outbreaks.
The Service has also intensified public education to help reduce the increasing rate of fire incidents in busy commercial areas and markets in the Kumasi metropolis.
Divisional Officer Three (DO3) Mr Peter Addai, Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, told the Ghana News Agency that sustained efforts were being made to reduce the rampant fire outbreaks in the region.
The central business districts of Kumasi have within two weeks witnessed three devastating fire outbreaks, which have destroyed merchandized goods worth millions of Ghana cedis.
Though fatalities were not recorded in the outbreaks, many people have lost their businesses and livelihoods to these fires.
The latest was the fire at Adum, where a story building which housed several shops was gutted on Friday afternoon.
It took fire fighters more than two hours to put it off.
DO3 Addai attributed the causes of the fires to negligence and carelessness, accidents, electrical faults and to some extent, poor handling of naked fires.
He indicated that by the end of January 2022, over 200 fires had been recorded in the Ashanti Region.
Out of this, 48 per cent were bushfires, domestic fires contributed about 28 per cent and the rest industrial fires.
DO3 Addai touching on the damages and salvages in these infernos said “a lot of the time we only focus on the cost of damage, but we realize that when firemen get to the fire scenes, they are able to salvage some items”.
He cited the recent fire outbreak in a commercial building at Adum and said personnel who were on the scene salvaged about 12 stores out of the 19 on the ground floor, adding that, it was a swift action to protect the other properties from further destruction.
“The Dr Mensah fire for instance, we salvaged some items from the stores made of wood and also the fire was confined and prevented from spreading to other adjoining structures,” he added.
He called on the people to be extremely cautious in their actions in order not to create problems for themselves and others.
GNA