GH¢203m Lost to fire last year — GNFS

The country lost close to GH¢203 million to fire outbreaks between January and November last year. 

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) said the loss came about as a consequence of 5,219 fire outbreaks that were recorded within the period.

From statistics the service made available to the Daily Graphic yesterday, the fire incidents also claimed 196 lives and left 1,498 individuals with varying degrees of injury.

The Greater Accra Region topped the chart with 1,114 fires, while the Ashanti Region recorded 867 cases.

The region with the least cases of fire was the North East Region which recorded 30.

The causes of the fire outbreaks were categorised as domestic, industrial, vehicular, institutional, electrical, commercial and bush fire.

Fires from commercial establishments topped with 817 cases in the period under review.

Surge

Compared to 2022, the country lost about GH¢64 million to fire incidents, indicating an upward spiral of 317.18 per cent last year.

According to the GNFS, the surge was due to ignorance and carelessness on the part of the public in spite of its intensified fire safety campaign.

Throughout last year, the service said it embarked on an initiative to sensitise the public to be conscious of factors that could result in fire outbreaks.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GNFS, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Timothy Osafo Affum, said indiscipline, carelessness and non-compliance of recommended basic fire safety measures and protocols continued to be the major causes of fire outbreaks in the country.

“About 70 per cent of fires that occurred last year were as a result of human error.

“These are the type of fires that we want to reduce even if we can’t prevent all, but the challenge is that people are not ready to change their attitude,” he said.

The PRO said the GNFS was considering implementing the amended Fire Prevention Act, Legislative Instrument (LI) 1724, which empowered the service to ensure that businesses and residential facilities acquired fire certificates.

The delay in the implementation was because the law also mandated the GNFS to provide every home with fire extinguishers and smoke detectors which, according to him, demanded a lot of capital.

Prevention

Mr Affum urged the public to adhere strictly to fire safety precautions to help reduce fire outbreaks, especially during the prevailing dry season.

He said fire occurrences in the dry season were rampant due to the dry winds; as a result, the slightest flame which came into contact with any combustible material easily sparked fire which spread quickly.

“During this time, the weather is very dry and it is easy to have a fire break when heat comes into contact with materials such as paper, clothes and dry leaves.

People need to be more cautious in their homes and offices around this time,” the PRO added.