Fire Service to close institutions which ignore fire safety precautions
Public and private institutions which fail to take fire safety precautions will be closed down, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has said.
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The decision to close down such institutions is part of measures being rolled out by the GNFS to contain possible fire outbreaks in view of the severe harmattan.
Authorities of the service have vowed to return to the deterrent measures of closing down and prosecuting institutions that fail to adhere to fire precautionary measures that often result in industrial fires, particularly during the dry season.
Fire wardens
The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Mr Prince Billy Anaglate, who was briefing the Daily Graphic on measures the service had put in place during the harmattan period, stated that the GNFS had embarked on a programme to train more fire wardens for deployment to various institutions.
He explained that the fire wardens would liaise with organised residential associations and educate the latter on how to prevent fires.
New Year fires
This year started on a rather bad note when fire gutted the warehouse of the Melcom Group at the North Industrial Area, the Dome and the Achimota markets and a house at Kuku Hill at Osu.
The Chief Fire Officer, Dr Albert Brown-Gaisie, had earlier called on industries and institutions to install better fire response systems on their premises to minimise the extent of damage whenever there was a fire outbreak and appealed to industries which did not have water on their premises to ensure that reservoirs were available on their premises.
Patrol team
He indicated that the GNFS had formed a patrol team that would embark on a vigorous fire education campaign at the various public places, including markets and drinking spots, to educate the public.
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He added that the activities of the public at such places would be closely monitored, while the people would be appropriately educated on the precautionary measures to adopt to avoid any disaster.
Domestic fires
On domestic fires, Mr Anaglate made reference to Legislative Instrument (LI) 1724 of the Fire Precautions Premises Regulations 2003, which makes it obligatory for certain premises to have fire certificates to meet fire safety standards.
According to the LI, there is the need to ensure that there are adequate exits within the premises for easy evacuation, serviceable fire-fighting facilities, among other interventions.
But Mr Anaglate regretted that the LI did not cover domestic or residential facilities that often recorded a high number of fire outbreaks and stressed the need to have them covered under the law.
Writer’s email: sebastian.syme@graphic.com.gh