Fire Officer stresses community involvement in fire-fighting

Divisional Officer Three (DO 3), Charles Kumi Amponsah, District Fire Officer of the Jaman South District, has stressed community involvement to ensure road accessibility for smooth fire-fighting during outbreaks in the country.

He said there were many communities in Ghana where construction and siting of buildings caused blockage of roads, which impeded fire fighters from getting easy access to areas of fire outbreaks.

DO 3 Amponsah was speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Japekrom in the Jaman South District, after his outfit had struggled through virtually impassable area at Krupiase new site, a suburb of Drobo, the District capital, to successfully put off an outbreak in a three-bedroom house at 0330 hours that day.

He stated that had the road been accessible enough, his men could have used at least three minutes from Japekrom to the scene to prevent the extent of damage caused to the building, adding that it took the assistance of neighbours to clear the narrow road of trees and stones before the fire tender could reach the area.

DO 3 Amponsah said the cost of damage could not be quantified, as investigations to ascertain the cause was yet to start, but added that it could run into thousands of Cedis.