The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has disclosed that the country lost close to GH¢203 million to fire outbreaks between January and November 2023.
During an interview with Daily Graphic, the service attributed the loss to about 5,219 fire outbreaks that were recorded within the period.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the service, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Timothy Osafo Affum, said indiscipline, carelessness and non-compliance with recommended basic fire safety measures and protocols to be adhered by citizens continue to be the major causes of fire outbreaks in the country.
He reiterated that, despite the service measures to reduce frequent fire outbreaks through media engagements and education, the challenge is, that people are not ready to change their attitude.
“The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) was considering implementing the amended Fire Prevention Act, Legislative Instrument (LI) 1724, which empowered the service to ensure that businesses and residential facilities acquired fire certificates. The delay in the implementation was because the law also mandated the GNFS to provide every home with fire extinguishers and smoke detectors which, according to him, demanded a lot of capital”, he said.
Mr Affum urged the public to adhere strictly to fire safety precautions to help reduce fire outbreaks, especially during the prevailing dry season.
“During this time, the weather is very dry and it is easy to have a fire break when heat comes into contact with materials such as paper, clothes and dry leaves. People need to be more cautious in their homes and offices around this time,” the PRO added.
From statistics the service made available to the Daily Graphic yesterday, the fire incidents also claimed 196 lives and left 1,498 individuals with varying degrees of injury. The Greater Accra Region topped the chart with 1,114 fires, while the Ashanti Region recorded 867 cases.
The region with the least cases of fire was the North East Region which recorded 30.
The causes of the fire outbreaks were categorised as domestic, industrial, vehicular, institutional, electrical, commercial and bushfires.
Fires from commercial establishments topped 817 cases in the period under review.