FIRE SERVICE STRUGGLING (Front page) 01-06-09

Story: Kofi Yeboah

THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has been rendered incapable of dealing with many of the fire outbreaks in the country due to the breakdown of most of its fire engines and the only turn-table ladder used by fire fighters to gain access to high structures for rescue operations.
The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Divisional Officer III Timothy Osafo-Affum, told this paper in Accra that ideally, every fire station ought to have at least two fire engines and a water tanker, “but as of now, some stations don’t have any fire engine because a lot of them have broken down”.
He said the Kumasi Metropolis, for instance, required about 10 fire engines but had only four and that accounted for the difficulty in fighting last Thursday’s inferno at the Kumasi Central Market.
According to him, fire engines had to be mobilised from Ejisu, Konongo and Obuasi.
Mr Osafo-Affum said there were only four fire engines serving eight fire stations in Accra” and so if there is any major fire outbreak in Accra, it will be difficult to fight it”.
Since 2003, when the GNFS took delivery of a fleet of fire engines, the service has been struggling to put its fire engines on the road, at least to give a signal of their presence in times of fire outbreaks.
At the moment, the GNFS is counting on a $50-million facility approved by Parliament last year for the acquisition of fire equipment, including fire engines.
Mr Osafo-Affum said an ideal situation would be to have two fire-fighting helicopters, one in the north and the other in the south, but he was quick to ask; “Even the Ghana Air Force, how many aeroplanes do they have?”
The Fire Precaution (Premises) Regulation, 2003 (LI 1724) makes it mandatory for all public buildings to have fire safety facilities, such as escape routes, fire detection systems and fire suppression systems.
Mr Osafo-Affum said logistical constraints, coupled with lack of access to fire spots, particularly markets, posed a major challenge to the service.
The GNFS has recorded six fire outbreaks at markets throughout the country this year with last Thursday’s Kumasi Central Market disaster being the most devastating.
The other infernos were recorded at Asafo Market and Moro Market, both in Kumasi, and Krofofrom Market, all in the Ashanti Region and the Kaneshie and Konkomba Markets in Accra.
In all those instances, one major difficulty fire fighters had to contend with was lack of access to the markets.
Mr Osafo-Affum said in the Kumasi Central Market fire outbreak, for instance, a bulldozer had to demolish some of the structures to enable fire fighters to get access to the seat of fire because there were no demarcated lanes to allow fire engines to gain access.
He said the GNFS had recommended the creation of alleys, decongestion and segregation at the markets to enhance easy access to fire engines in times of fire.
Mr Osafo-Affum said the segregation of the markets meant the grouping of traders who sold similar items in particular locations, pointing out that if the items were mixed up, it made the raging of fire very fierce.
He said five years ago, the GNFS recommended to district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies to provide fire wardens at marketplaces to ensure fire safety, but the assemblies had not done anything about it.