Interior Ministry proposes setting up fire brigades to monitor markets

The Ministry for the Interior is set to roll out an initiative that will see the deployment of fire brigades who will monitor markets across the country on a 24-hour basis.

As part of the initiative, the ministry is proposing a plan to partner the Ministry of Youth Development to release beneficiaries under the Youth Employment module who will be trained to help in fighting fire outbreaks.

The sector Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, explained that the initiative was part of efforts to fill the gap in providing personnel to support firefighting efforts across the country.

This comes in the wake of fire outbreaks that have affected major markets in different parts of the country, the latest being the Blue Light section of the Kumasi Central Business District and the Tamale Market.

Fire brigades

With the quest to reduce the fire outbreaks, Muntaka Mubarak stressed that more efforts are needed to address market fires in the country.

“The other thing that we want to do, for which we will need and seek your support, is to have fire brigades in all our markets. Here, we cannot rely on firefighters alone because their numbers will not be enough to cover all our markets.

So, we are currently in talks with the Minister for Youth Development.

“The Youth Employment model employs many youths; give them to us and we will train them in fire safety and other related areas so that they can join fire safety officers.

“This way, we can man our markets 24/7 so that when something happens, they can start the extinguishing process, while they call the fire service engines to come.

“This requires innovation and partnership,” Mr Muntaka stated.