Ghana National Fire Service Blames Illegal Electrical Connections For Market Fires

Acting Head of Public Relations of the Ghana National Fire Service, Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe, said “The recent investigations have revealed that market fires which occurred in 2013 were caused by illegal electrical connections and inferior cables.”

During an interview, Mr Okoe said, “There have been a total of 65 deaths and 44 injuries reported through the 4,171 cases of fire outbreaks recorded in the country.” Statistics have shown that the Ashanti Region had recorded the highest fire outbreaks with 836, followed by Brong Ahafo with 553, Greater Accra with 547, and Central Region with 405.

Mr. Okoe was particularly concerned that the Fire Service periodic fire safety audit revealed that the majority of companies were not adhering to the fire safety advice which as a result caused high levels of 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.”

He further added, “The Service will review all the safety audits for the district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies to ensure that all safety standards have been met.” The Service will also be advising all property owners to provide any necessary fire safety measures on their premises, while the public should take measures to protect themselves against any preventable accidents and to be safety conscious.

“The Fire Service had established SWAT unit, which is a rapid response team comprising of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the Ambulance, Fire Service and the Police to ensure fire safety,” he added.

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. Finally 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.