Dr. Albert Brown Gaisie, the Chief Fire Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), says the Service is undergoing a transformation to ensure proactive fire prevention instead the reactive to fire breaks.
He said to this effect various District, Municipal and Regional Commanders of the Service would be required to prepare effective contingency plans to deal decisively with fire-related matters.
"They must embark on educational drive in churches, mosques, radio stations, lorry parks and other public places to educate the populace on fire safety measures", he stressed. Dr. Gaisie said this at a staff durbar held in the Western Regional Headquarters of the GNFS at Fijai after touring some fire stations and installations in the Region.
The tour was meant to validate and familiarise with some operational and technical measures instituted by the various District and Municipal Fire Commands to ensure fire safety and enhance the socio-economic development of the country.
He said the Service wass confronted with complicated and unknown chemicals in its quest to combat fire outbreaks; therefore, it would be required to deal with such dangerous fire cases in order to protect lives and property as well as ensuring safety and health of personnel.
He noted that every institution at a point in time undergoes transformation which required sacrifices in view of changes in the society, especially with the emerging threats of terrorism and sporadic attacks on institutions and vital state installations and so personnel would be equipped to deal with such risks.
To ensure effective implementation of the contingency plans, he said, the fire commanders would sign Performance Audit Agreement with the Service, and occasionally, monitoring teams from the GNFS would undertake unannounced visits to fire posts and stations to undertake audits to ascertain their compliance.
He charged the personnel to take proper care of the Service's logistics, saying any equipment or materials request made by any district fire commander would be reviewed and justified before being granted to ensure value for money.
"You must ensure judicious utilization of resources allocated to your Command since it shows how effective and efficient you are as a leader", he said. The Chief Fire Officer announced that the GNFS would soon embark on fire safety courses to enhance the capacity of the personnel and encouraged them to take part since it would aid in their promotions, and also update their knowledge in fire safety management.
Touching on the impending general elections in November, Dr. Gaisie stated that some personnel of the Service would be assigned for election-related activities, and urged them to exhibit a high sense of professionalism and discipline.
Mr. Obeng Dankwa Dwamena, the Regional Commander of the Westren Region, said the Region has 17 fire stations and two fire posts and revealed that the Juaboso Fire post would be upgraded to a fire station while a facility has been made available for a fire station at Sefwi-Essam in the Bia West District.
He said the Region has staff strength of 415 made up of 54 senior officers, 361 junior officers and two civilian employees and indicated that the Regional Command had intensified public education on fire safety at markets, lorry parks and other public places aimed at minimizing the incidents of fire outbreaks.
Mr. Dwamena said, this year, the Region has recorded 119 fire cases between January and February with an estimated cost of damages amounting to GHc 273,653.00.
Source: GNA
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