Residents chase firemen away at Assin Foso

Assin Foso (C/R), Nov. 15, GNA - Residents of the Roman Catholic Teachers' Quarters at Assin Foso, on Wednesday pelted with stones and drove away personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service who responded to an SOS call to help control a fire outbreak but turned up without a fire tender.

Items worth millions of cedis including a set of musical instruments belonging to the local Catholic Church, 94 students' foam mattresses, 78 plastic chairs, roofing sheets and cash 238,000 cedis, were destroyed as the fire razed through the quarters. The cause of the fire was not known. A number of teachers and their families, who had been rendered homeless following the fire outbreak, are putting up in classrooms and with friends and relatives and have appealed to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to come to their aid.

The incident began, when the firemen responded to the call but turned up in a rescue truck instead of a fire tender.

They had explained to the residents that the rescues truck had no facilities for fire fighting and directed the victims to fetch water to put out the fire, as the rescue truck had no facilities for pumping water.

The residents, who saw no need for the presence of the firemen without the fire fighting equipment, chased them away by pelting them with stones.

They managed to control the fire on their own with the aid of water and sand.

The fire victims later marched to the district administration chanting war songs to protest against the attitude of the firemen. Explaining why his men turned up in a rescue truck instead of the fire tender, the District Fire Officer, Mr Samuel Amponsah-Tetteh, told the=

He said the firemen had responded to the call to solicit the assistance of the residents in putting controlling the fire saying, the service had conducted public education on fire prevention and had formed fire-fighting brigades in the various communities.