Buipe: 13-year-old boy burnt to death

A 13-year-old boy was burnt to death Friday morning when an electronic shop he was sleeping in caught fire.

The incident happened at Buipe, the capital of the Central Gonja District in the Savannah Region.

The deceased has been identified as Ibrahim Musah, by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) at Buipe.

The Savannah Regional Fire Commander, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Mr Kwasi Baffour Awuah who confirmed the incident to Graphic Online said the fire incident occurred at about 4 am this dawn.

He said the structure in which the boy was sleeping when it caught the fire was located near the Buipe bridge over the Black Volta.

ACFO, Mr Baffour-Awuah said the charred body of the boy has since been released to his family for burial this morning in accordance with Islamic customs and tradition.

Briefing

Briefing the Daily Graphic, ACFO, Mr Baffour-Awuah said the Buipe Fire Station received the distress call to attend to the fire at 4.02 am and arrived at the scene at 4.07 am and finally extinguished the fire at 4.15 am.

He said the fire completely destroyed two shops and a third one partially all located near the Buipe Bridge which included the one the boy was sleeping in.

Caution

ACFO Baffour-Awuah, said the peak of fire outbreaks in the region was in December, January, February and March during when the region experiences dry harmattan winds.

He, therefore, advised the general public to be cautious of naked fires that can easily cause fire such as the use of candles and oil lamps and also put out lit matches after use.

The region in 2019 and 2020 recorded a total of 72 and 63 fires respectively with domestic and commercial fires dominating.

"The categories of fires that dominated in the years 2019 and 2020 fire outbreaks were domestic fires which are 56 out of the total of the 135 fire outbreaks recorded in 2019 and 2020 followed by commercial fires of 25", he stated.

He added that the Regional Fire Command has stepped up fire prevention education across the seven districts in the region. They are the Central Gonja, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, Bole. North Gonja, North East Gonja districts, East Gonja (Salaga) and Gonja ( Damongo, the regional capital), which are both a municipality.