Market fires, political interference 2

Until 2017, firefighters were trained for a minimum of six months.

They were taken through the Chemistry of combustion, Physics, Building construction and Electricity, among others, the least of which is foot drills.

The purpose of the above scientific topics was to enable recruits to have an understanding of how material laced with chemicals and chemical solutions behave on fire, the importance of the density of various flammable liquids when subjected to heat and the determination of suitable extinguishing medium.

Physics would give you the rate of expansion and behaviour of metals and rods when subjected to certain degrees of heat, be it in a column or pillar.

Building construction, among others, would establish the behaviour of wood and boards, whether as a pillar or flat surface when in a fire situation and their rate of consumption.

With all these, you would appreciate and identify the behaviour and colour of a flame to know the building is just about to collapse.

Similarly, a thick volume of smoke emerging with a coil wind rolling with a particular type of colour should inform you of an imminent explosion in a fire. 

All these qualities are totally expunged from our training hub, due to the limited time spent at the training ground. What then is expected of these new firefighters? They do not deserve our condemnation.

Rather, an opportunity should be made available for them to be retrained according to our standards. It is boldly inscribed on our training school wall.

Hard on training, easy on fire

Unfortunately, the training ground has been turned into a pleasure ground. Are we sure we are standing for this test?

Today, recruits are trained for under three months. Politicians have hijacked the recruitment process; they have thrown to the wind body selection, aptitude tests and many other important selection procedures.

Selection of qualified candidates is based on one's political affiliation and is done at the Jubilee House.

How do you expect to recruit able-bodied people of fire service standards? 

It is a common and awful scene of having babies in uniform.

The training ground is filled with people who, from the word go, are not trainable and are code-named "my here my there" group.

These so-called protocol people have their mobile phones with them, which is forbidden, and with the slightest physical exercise, they call their overlords and instructions are given to the Fire Administration to that effect.

Indeed, the hands of the Fire Service were squarely tied behind them by the powers that be.

Prospects

I recommend that instructors at the various training schools be flown outside to be trained as real instructors.

The practice where a person receives three months of training and he or she, by his political affiliation, is retained at the training school as an instructor must be stopped.

What can you impart to others when you do not have anything?

It will be prudent and necessary to retrain the under-trained personnel to build their capacity.

Firefighting is technical and you do not expect any person with basic and substandard or inadequate training to be efficient and effective in the discharge of his or her duty. 

The protection of our lives and property is in the hands of these life savers.

Their performance at the scene of an emergency will make the difference between permanent paralysis, death, a minor incident or a disaster.

It could be me, you or anybody, irrespective of position, class or status in life.

These noble firefighters are without insurance or a readily available hospital to access quickly in the discharge of their duty to save the life of another when he turns to be a victim of circumstances.

Many firefighters today are dying slowly out of chemical and hot gas inhalation, as well as exposure to heat during firefighting.

Some firefighters lost their lives during an emergency in a bid to save lives and property.

The dependants of these gallant firefighters were left to resign to their fate. I, therefore, recommend that as has been the case of our sister services, which I am very much aware that there is a provision at the Ministry of the Interior that any personnel who lost his or her life on active duty is compensated and their dependents are duly taken care off, so should it be with the Fire Service to serve as a motivation to compatriots who work at the peril of their lives to save lives.

Retooling

The Fire Service is the only qualified service to protect and promote recovery of casualties during road traffic accidents by ensuring dedicated and scientific extrication of casualties, with additional basic health delivery.

Indeed, it is on record that many people who died after a road traffic collision died not because of the impact of the incident but unprofessional handling of the casualties by bystanders.

The Fire Service must be equipped with rescue vans to be positioned at vantage points on our highways to ensure rapid response to emergencies.

This will prevent non-professionals or bystanders who always happen to be the first attendants at scenes from mishandling victims. 

Their bid to assist victims has mainly resulted in a fatality after the initial incident.

They approach casualties without any consideration or suspicion that there might be a spine injury and the victim must be handled with care to avoid further injury and damage to the spine which, as a result, would make the difference between permanent paralysis and even death.

It is on record and in the public domain that on September 13, 2010, when firemen were performing their normal simulation exercise at the Cedi House, with the view to testing the readiness of the personnel, as well as training workers on the high-rise building to deal with such a situation when it occurred, a firewoman was unfortunately crushed to the floor and she died shortly after that.

This raises further issues about the nation's preparedness to deal with fire and other emergencies on high-rise buildings

 It was in that vein that the then President of Ghana promised to retool the Fire Service and has delivered on that promise by purchasing over 200 fire Tenders to the Fire Service.

Since then, the fire service has not been equipped with standard fire tenders.

In effect, the Fire Service has those vehicles outmoded, not roadworthy and not fit for the purpose.

Ghana currently has no standard Fire Station; a Fire Station should be equipped with two fire tenders, a rescue van, a mobile van, a towing vehicle, a water carrier and an ambulance.

A fire hydrant is a pipe fitting shipped on main water lines to enable the Fire Service to access water for firefighting.

The hydrant has a specification of 100-metre intervals installed along the roads and in communities.

A well-maintained set-off fire hydrant is necessary for firefighting operations because it provides readily available water for firefighting.

According to statistics by the Fire Service, nearly 50 per cent of hydrants in the country are not operational. In Greater Accra, 126 of the 295 hydrants are not serviceable.

The Ghana Water Company, which receives one per cent from the public to install, maintain and ensure uninterrupted water flow through the hydrants, should be coerced to deliver on their mandate.

It is, therefore, worthy of note that President Mahama himself has sympathised with the traders.

Beyond that, he also promised to retool the Fire Service and, hence, urged Fire Officers to work hard to reduce the incidence of preventable market fires.

We trust that with this word coming from the President, all other stakeholders will arduously join hands to ensure that market fires are reduced to the barest minimum. 

Of particular mention are the Metropolitan, Municipal and District (MMDA) Assemblies, traders and others.

The writer is the Oti Regional Fire Commander of the Ghana National Fire Service, Dr Assistant Chief Fire Officer I (ACFO l).

E-mail: princebillyanaglate@gmail.com