Bush fire destroys vegetation along trunk road

Dambai, Jan. 25, GNA - Vast areas of vegetation along the Katanga-Dambai trunk road in the Krachi-East District have been destroyed by bush fire. Teak trees on plantations along the road stood naked without leaves dropped by the dry hamarttan winds or burned by the ferocious fires. In some areas the teak trees have lost all undergrowth to the fires. Mr Cephas Yevu, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) Station officer at Dambai told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the fires were allegedly started mainly by hunters to smoke out game or by farmers to prepare land for farming. He said programmes of education through the media and target groups have failed to make any impart on what he said had become a yearly ritual in the area.

Mr. Yevu said Fire Fighting Volunteers have not had the needed logistic and moral support from the District Assembly to make any meaningful impact on the situation.

He said the only Fire Tender in the area was stationed at Kete-Krachi, far away from the fires.

Mr Yevu said no arrest had been made and that so far there had been no deaths but said a woman near Kparepare lost all her property to one of the fire-outbreaks.

Mr. Michael Tokor, Technical Officer of the Electricity Company of Ghana in the Krachi-East District said the fires had so far destroyed 23 high-tension poles along the road resulting in long hours of power outages in the area.

He said another cause of outages is the accidental snapping of power cables by trees being felled to facilitate work on the Kpando-Dambai highway.