… National Fire Service under Stress
Story: Prosper Agbenyega
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is wallowing under serious stress as about 16 fire Hydrants in Accra have been sealed by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL). This situation is really affecting smooth operations of the service in fighting fire.
The Moment has established that about 16 fire hydrants, which usually serve as water sources for the Fire Service in fighting fire when there is any outbreak, are now inaccessible.
The areas where the Hydrants are sealed include, Nyamekye Clinic, Vice President’s residence, State House, Nima King Tackie Tawaih Overpass, Farico Total Filling station, Land and Survey Department, Momobi Accra Girls and La Beach.
The rest are, Abelemkpe, Tessano, Nima Gutter, Bank of Ghana Lane, Asoredanho and City Car park.
In an exclusive interview with the Public Relation Officer of GNFS Mr. Billy Anagblatey accept the occurrence and pointed out that, the Service has on several occasions engaged GWCL in dialogue over the issue but nothing positive emerged.
According to him, they spoke to GWCL on opening the sealed hydrants or creating new ones but there has not been any positive response as to what the position of GWCL is on that.
He averred that, it will be very difficult for the service to attend to any fire at these areas considering the state of affairs.
Although he noted that the state of GNFS has improved tremendously in the areas of equipments, logistics, training and strategy they still face some challenges.
According to him, the service has recently taken delivery of 200 fire fighting equipments and auxiliary vehicles, vans and tankers to carry out their duties effectively, noting that lack of these things has been a headache to the service over the years, and their provision came as a morale booster.
Mr. Anagblatey also averred that the National Fire Service is gradually moving from fire fighting to fire prevention, making fire safety a core factor of their operations.
According to him, there is the need for more fire stations to be constructed to allow for close proximity to each station for easy access.
He also indicated that the service would appreciate the construction of new fire hydrants, saying that most of the existing ones have also been turned into dumping sites with majority of them being buried under newly constructed roads.
Mr. Anagblatey also hinted that hydrants are very necessary as they help the service to fill and replenish water into the fire tenders during operations.
He however advised people to cultivate the fire safety culture and avoid patronizing and using substandard electric cables and gadgets.
He also called on people to develop a good house keeping habit, so as to be able to segregate highly combustible items from lowly combustible ones to prevent fire outbreaks.
Mr. Anagblatey also stressed the need for people to conduct periodic checks on their LPG Gas cylinders and connectors.
