By Augustine Agyapong
Bechem, (A/R, Dec. 20, GNA – Divisional Officer Grade Three (DO3) Clifford Ashie, the Tano South Municipal Commander of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) says the command recorded 14 cases of fire outbreaks from January to December 2024.
Comparatively, he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Bechem, the municipal capital in the Ahafo Region that the fire outbreaks saw marginal increase, with 11 recorded in 2023 within the same period.
He said the fire outbreaks included domestic and wildfires, institutional fires as well as vehicle fires because of road crashes, saying the GNFS had put in place measures to control the outbreaks.
DO3 Ashie predicted the severity of the harmattan, and cautioned the people, particularly, farmers, hunters and palm wine tappers to be guarded about the way and manner they handled naked fires in the bush.
He explained that the command had trained more than 800 fire volunteers to go round and combat bushfires and urged farmers to cooperate with them.
DO3 Ashie enumerated several challenges confronting the service, including fire safety materials, and appealed for motorbikes for the personnel to reach out to hard-to-reach communities for intensified fire safety campaigns.
In another interview, the Assistant Divisional Officer Grade One (ADO1) Clement Agyei Yeboah of the command urged residents to prompt the service first whenever there was a fire outbreak, be it domestic or bushfires.
GNA