Residents of Kabanye in the Wa Municipality, have expressed disappointment at the behaviour of personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), for refusing to quench fire in a refuse container belonging to the Zoomlion Company.
The container which was full to the brim and left for months unattended to, caught fire which some residents believed a neighbour might have dumped ash containing fire into it.
Mr Salifu Abdul Razak, a resident who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said he made a telephone call to the GNFS Office, and spoke with Mr. Saeed Laara, and gave him accurate description of the location of the fire.
However, the personnel drove past the scene, and went back to the office.
Mr Razak said when he made the second telephone call to the office, one Mr Wakiki received the call and instructed him to come to the office and direct the officers to where exactly the container was.
According to Razak, when he went to the office, he was disappointment when Mr.Wakiki told him that personnel of the GNFS in the Wa Municipality had been directed not to quench any fire in refuse containers anymore.
Mr. Razak said the officer rather directed him to go back and mobilize community members to put out the fire.
He expressed worry that the fire could have spread to other houses in the neighbourhood, because of the harmattan wind.
Mr Abu Nuru, assembly member of the area, said he did not have any knowledge of the fire, but alleged that the personnel had always behaved in a negative manner any time they were called upon to come and put out fire.
Another assembly member Mr. Issah Adinan, complained of similar behaviour put up by the personnel any time a container was on fire.
However, the Municipal Public Relations Officer of the Service, Assistant Divisional Officer, Mr. Martin Bakobie, said the officer on duty used his own discretion to address the situation, and not because they had received any orders not to attend to refuse container on fire.
He said GNFS was operating in all the other 10 district capitals in the region, with one fire tender each for the entire district, and called for collective responsibility of stakeholders to prevent and control fires in the region.
He said fire prevention was more important in this era, explaining that the service was confronted with many challenges in its operations.
Mr. Bakobie said the mandate of the Fire Service was to manage and prevent undesired fires, and also to save and protect lives and properties in the region, which they were committed to executing.
He indicated that the GNFS in the Municipality used to have five water hydrants, but four had since been taken away by the Ghana Water Company, because of alleged water selling by the personnel.
He appealed to individuals, civil society organizations, Non-Governmental Organization, and other corporate bodies, to come to the aid of the GNFS with logistics, to ensure the effective operation of the Service.
