Illegal electrical connections cause market fire outbreaks in 2013 – GNFS

Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe, Acting Head of Public Relations of the Ghana National Fire Service, said investigations had revealed that market fire outbreaks in 2013 were caused by inferior cables and illegal electrical connections.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday, Mr Okoe said a total of 4171 cases of fire outbreaks were recorded in the country with 44 injuries and 65 cases of death reported.

The statistics showed that the Ashanti Region recorded the highest fire outbreaks with 836, Brong Ahafo with 553, Greater Accra with 547, and Central Region with 405.

Mr Okoe expressed concern that the Fire Service periodic fire safety audit revealed that most companies did not adhere to fire safety advice which in turn caused fire in the country.

He said the Service had formed a market safety taskforce comprising of a patrol team that moved round the market to educate the market women on issues of fire safety and to create awareness.

Mr Okoe said the Service would review all the safety audit for the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to ensure that they met safety standards.

The Service would also advise property owners to provide fire safety measures on their premises while the public should also be safety conscious and take measures to protect themselves against preventable accidents.

He said the Fire Service had established SWAT unit, which is a rapid response team comprising of the Police, Fire Service, the Ambulance and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to ensure fire safety.

Mr Okoe advised farmers and palm wine tappers to go about their activities with caution, especially in the dry season, since a lot of them used fires.

He appealed to employers and organisations to ensure that employees were taught basic fire safety measures periodically adding that the Government must also provide logistics to combat fires.

Source: GNA