Fire Service launches safety measures
In an effort to prevent domestic fires, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has announced a campaign dubbed: ‘Home Fire Safety Campaign (HFSC)’ that would be rolled out in August this year.
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As part of the campaign, personnel of the service, as well as members of the Community Fire Protection Assistants (CFPA), will go round households to educate occupants on fire safety and precautionary measures to be taken in case there is an outbreak of fire on their premises.
For a start, the campaign will be piloted in Tema and the Accra districts in the Greater Accra Fire Region and would later be replicated in other parts of the country.
Already, the GNFS had carried out some Community Fire Prevention Education, where its members were engaged in sensitisation programmes on fire safety countrywide.
Concerns
Addressing the media in Accra last Wednesday, the Chief Fire Officer, Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, expressed concern over the way domestic fires were destroying lives.
According to him, most of the fires could be prevented only if people were well informed on fire safety measures.
He said the improper handling of electrical gadgets, candles left unattended to, as well as incorrect usage of cooking stoves or burners, were some of the major causes of domestic fires which the campaign sought to address.
Dr Gaise urged the public and the media in particular to support the service in its campaigns to make them successful.
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Fire outbreaks
Throwing light on domestic fire outbreaks in the last five years, Dr Gaisie expressed worry over the rising number of cases.
He said between 2011 and 2015, a total of 10,119 fires were recorded resulting in 188 fatalities, a phenomenon he described as alarming. “Hence the GNFS’s quest to address the problem holistically, with the support of all stakeholders,” the Chief Fire Officer further indicated.