The Ashanti Regional Fire Officer, Semekor Fiadzo, has called for the building of more fire stations in Kumasi by city authorities.
This he said was necessary for the swift response to fire emergencies in order to shorten the time firefighters take to arrive at the scene of an outbreak.
There are six fire stations in the metropolis – Manhyia, Bremang, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Chirapatre and Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), but he said the number was not adequate.
He was addressing a meeting held with metropolitan, municipal and district fire officers at the regional fire office in Kumasi.
It provided a platform to discuss operational activities, undertake performance review and map out strategies to achieve set targets.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer, (DCFO) Fiadzo, said the metropolis had grown to cover a huge area, and it was only prudent to increase the stations
“These fire stations are closely located when one looks at the distances between them. Kumasi keeps expanding and has become very large and so, there is the need for more stations to be evenly distributed and located, for effective coverage of the city.”
He made reference to a fire incident at Gyinase, where it took firefighters an hour to get to the scene, by which time, nothing could be salvaged, saying it would be ideal to have a fire station in every community.
He also highlighted the need for the assemblies to act decisively to stop the springing up of slums. Structures in such areas are built of mainly of wood and this combined with the poor and illegal power connection, make them susceptible to fire outbreaks.
DCFO Fiazo urged strong support for the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to carry out fire safety education to stop recklessness and negligence.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
