GNFS appeals to public to handle fire cautiously

Akim Oda (E/R), Jan 17, GNA - The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS)= at the weekend appealed to the general public to handle all forms of naked fir= e with caution during the harmattan season.

Assistant Division Fire Officer, Mr Ransford Ababio Aikins, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GNFS at Akim Oda, made the appeal through th= e Ghana News Agency (GNA). He was speaking on the high incidence of fire outbreaks in the Birim Central Municipality.

Within a matter of a week of the January, 2011, Akim Oda has recorded horrible accidents through motor and fire outbreaks. On January 13, at about 0500 hours and January 14, at about 0200 hours= , fire gutted the finance block of the Municipal Assembly and six contain-shops at the market area respectively, destroying government and private properties worth several thousands of Ghana Cedis. The PRO stated that the harmmattan season was severe and that a lot more fires would be experienced than previous occasions. Mr Aikins asked the public to be cautious in their use of naked fire and how they handled activities relating to fire outbreak. He appealed to traders at the market centres to put out all naked fire= s before living the market, to help avoid disasters this season. When asked why the Akim Oda Fire Station did not have fire tenders to respond to fire outbreaks in the municipality but rather relied on buckets and smaller containers of water to fight fires, he said the station's fir= e tender had broken down a long ago and that the Eastern Regional Office had put 93things" in place provide one for the municipality. b8