A nationwide programme has been outlined by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to curb the increasing number of domestic fire outbreaks, especially in vulnerable communities.
Per the programme, personnel of the service will be deployed to the homes of people to educate and inform them about basic fire safety measures.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Mr Prince Billy Anaglatey, the programme was part of the Home Safety campaign launched last year.
“Last year, the GNFS launched an initiative aimed at putting in place a strategy to drive home the need to adopt and put in place fire safety measures at homes. This is intended to help address the high rate of domestic fire outbreaks,” he said.
Domestic fire outbreak
Statistics reveal that domestic fire outbreaks are the leading cause of fire in Ghana.
In the first two and half months of this year, 1,022 fire outbreaks have been recorded in all the 10 regions.
Out of the number, three people died, while three sustained various degrees of injury.
Domestic fire outbreaks recorded the highest with a total of 371, followed by bushfires, commercial and vehicular fire outbreaks with 206,143 and 117, respectively.
Concerning the domestic fire outbreaks, Mr Anaglatey said the inability of the public to implement fire safety measures in their various homes was partly responsible.
“People are not ready to present themselves for fire safety education, no matter what we do. Some of them do not see the relevance of having to participate in fire safety education,” he said.
Mr Anaglatey stated that most of the domestic fire outbreaks could easily be prevented if the public adhered to the basic fire safety measures.
Asked what the GNFS intended to do this year to minimise domestic fire outbreak, he said the service intended to intensify its public education and also carry out a programme where fire personnel would go from house to house to inform the people about fire safety measures.
On commercial fire outbreaks, Mr Anaglatey said most of the organisations refused to allow the GNFS to audit their fire safety measures.
“When we call them, they either tell us that they are busy or that the manager in charge has travelled. There is nothing we can do about this,” he added.
Mr Anaglatey, however, commended the management of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) for inviting the GNFS to carry out its fire safety audit, adding that “most of the media houses we have contacted gave excuses.”
Achievements
Touching on bushfires, Mr Anaglatey said the service in 2015 launched a bushfire prevention campaign in the Central Region where 1,000 fire volunteers were trained to help prevent bushfires.
“Within two years, 28 fire stations were established, while others are yet to be inaugurated to enable the service to improve on its response time and also win public confidence by arriving at incident scenes on time,” he said.
Mr Anaglatey said a taskforce had also been set up to go to all major places of public assembly to ensure that safety practices were up to date.
On the expansion programme, he said the command of the service had embarked on an expansion policy to ensure that there was a fire cover for all districts of the country.
“Since August 2015 to date, a total of 20 fire stations have been inaugurated in various parts of the country and it is the hope of the command that at least 10 more fire stations would be inaugurated before the close of the year,” he said.
Challenges
One of the major challenges bedeviling the operations of the GNFS is the lack funds to undertake its programmes.
Mr Anaglatey said the annual budgetary allocation was so inadequate that the service could not undertake more programmes.
Although the exact amount given to the service was not disclosed, Mr Anaglatey said the current budgetary allocations to the GNFS could only take care of some of the operational and administrative activities of the service, thereby constraining other important aspects of its operations.
“The budgetary allocation to our service does not make room for fire safety education which is key in combating fire outbreaks in the country. We only have to depend on the social responsibility of the media houses to carry on these actions,” he said.
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