Fire Service gears up for the dry season

Assistant Chief Fire Officer in charge of the Ghana National Fire Service in the Volta Region Madam Janet Duah, has indicated her teams readiness for the annual occurrence of bushfires during the dry season.
In an interview with the media, she said a house to house fire safety education was being undertaken by the Service and would be sustained throughout the dry season.

She added that fire volunteer groups have also been established in all districts across the region to fight fires ‘anytime, anywhere’ and called for support from traditional rulers and opinion leaders.

The Commander said cattle herds, hunters and other groups who worked with fire are a central focus as part of efforts to keep down the rate of wildfires and advised the public to be on the lookout.

She said with the exception of Ho West District, all districts in the Volta Region have fire tenders and pledged prompt delivery should the need arise.

Mr Maxwell Blagodzi, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, earlier told the 14th Congress of the Coalition for Peace and Development of Buem, at Akaa in the Jasikan District, that farming communities must take steps to ensure that farms and wildlife are not destroyed and help protect electricity poles and other installations during the season.

“As the harmattan season intensifies, it is very important that we caution people who work with fire to be very careful not to destroy years of hard work”, the Minister said.

Meanwhile, ironically, a video circulating on social media shows the umpreparedness of the service in emergency situations, as a vehicle parked right in front of a Fire Service Station was caught up in flames but the men at the station showed lackadaisical attitude towards saving the vehicle from burning down completely.

The men took their time to pull their equipment together to put off the fire, while onlookers looked on helplessly as the vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire.