Domestic fire outbreaks on the rise in Ghana

Domestic fire outbreaks are on the rise in Ghana following statistics of fire outbreaks in 2019 and 2020, which projected 1,822 and 1,910 fires from January to October in both years, respectively.

Statistics from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) showed that domestic fire outbreaks were the highest in 2019 and 2020.

The domestic fire incidents from January to October, represented 39.63 and 35.67 of total fire outbreaks, respectively in both years.

This was followed by bush fires recording 608 in 2019 and 1,220 in 2020 in the same time periods.

There was an increase of fire outbreaks from January to October 2019 from 4,623 to 5,355 for the same period in 2020.

Divisional Officer Grade One Ellis Okoe Robinson, Head of Public Relations, National Headquarters of GNFS, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said they were relatively low fire outbreaks in the early parts of 2020, however, the numbers increased in the latter part of the year.

He said domestic fire outbreaks were on the increase, adding that, most of them were recorded during the lockdown period.

Mr Okoe said to curb domestic fire outbreaks, households needed to be conscious of naked fires, saying, the outbreaks were more often caused by unattended fires.

He reiterated the need for homes to have emergency exit route and observe safety precautions such as putting off electrical appliances whenever they were out.

He said for commercial and market fires, most of them were caused by the congested nature of such places, especially in the latter part of the year when many people trooped in from far and near to trade ahead of the festive season.

He said markets needed to have task force to ensure traders observe fire safety protocols and safety routine plans.

Mr Okoe advised the public to establish contacts with nearest fire stations in their vicinities as well as officers in charge of those units to get easy access to them in times of emergencies.