By Isaac Arkoh
Cape Coast, April 12, GNA – The Central Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has recorded an increase in fire outbreaks in the first quarter from 198 in 2022 to 225 in 2023.
Representing an 18 per cent increase, the surge was largely due to bushfires, which has gone up from 68 to 98.
Assistant Division Officer (ADO) 111 Abdul Wasiu Hudu, the Central Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GNFS, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.
Other fires, including domestic ones, rose from 50 to 69, institutional fires moved up slightly from five to seven, vehicular fires went up from 18 to 23, electrical fires from 13 to 15 and industrial fires also pushed from five to eight.
About 71 of the total fires were minor ones that were put out by the public before the arrival of fire personnel.
Particularly, he attributed the rampant fire outbreaks also to the delay in rainfall over the period and other human-caused land use activities such as farming, hunting, charcoal production, and burning of refuse among others.
For others, he blamed the situation on faulty electrical gadgets and negligence.
“People engage in multiple chores when they are at home; someone could be ironing and cooking at the same time, and when that happens, you may give more attention to one. This could easily trigger a fire,” he said.
The Central Regional PRO was worried that despite the intensified fire safety measures adopted across the region, there were still high incidents of fire outbreaks.
Notwithstanding, he said the Regional Command had scaled-up fire safety engagements using prime media, social media and the community information centres, particularly in the rural areas.
“The service in the region together with some media houses have regular fire safety education programmes apart from the fire safety inspection in premises and fire safety sensitization programs in schools,” he said.
He, therefore, called on the public to adhere to the fire safety precautions, adding that, fire safety was a shared responsibility.
“Make sure you put all appliances off before leaving your homes.
“You must embark on some basic general cleaning to clear all cobwebs and also decongest your homes to help reduce materials which could serve as fuel during an outbreak,” he advised.
GNA