FIRE SAFETY: American Red Cross seeks volunteers for fire campaign

• Mari-Alice Jasper Fort Campbell Courier

Dozens of American Red Cross volunteers will saturate Clarksville neighborhoods Oct. 14 to test, replace and install free smoke detectors as part of the national Home Fire Campaign.

The Tennessee River Chapter of the American Red Cross services 11 counties in Middle Tennessee. The year-round Home Fire Campaign began in 2014. These smoke detector events are scheduled about every six months. In April 2017, the chapter installed more than 100 smoke detectors in one day.

This year the team will focus on neighborhoods near Madison Street, Clarksville.

Tere Kangas, disaster relief team captain for the Tennessee River Chapter, said education and preparation are the main goals of the campaign.

“First we ask people to check their smoke alarms and see if they are working properly,” Kangas said. “We also ask the Family to practice fire drills at home. When a fire breaks out you have about two minutes to get out of your house. It is very important to have at least two fire escapes planned.”

Battery operated smoke detectors should be replaced every decade, whereas hardwired smoke detectors should be replaced every six years. Through the campaign, members of the local chapter are able to install new Kidde 10-year smoke detectors for many people. The new smoke detectors are operated by ion batteries which are enclosed in the smoke detector. They should be tested once a year.

“Typically we only think of a smoke detector when a fire happens to us or it happens to someone we know,” Kangas sad. “We need to think about it more often.”

Many of the homes the chapter has visited in the past have not had any smoke detectors installed, Kangas said. Nearly 5 million households nationwide do not have any smoke alarms, according to the latest report conducted by the National Fire Prevention Association.

This year, the Home Fire Campaign will install its 1 millionth smoke detector. Through this campaign 268 lives have been saved and 400,143 homes have been made safer, according to the American Red Cross.

“Locally we know that we’ve saved several lives,” Kangas said. “People have come back and told us they were able to survive a house fire because of the smoke detectors that we installed. We know this program works. It’s an awesome program.”

While the volunteers are engaging with the community, they also take the opportunity to educate others on the importance of preparing for emergencies.

“Always get prepared,” Kangas said. “Know those escape plans and check your smoke detectors.”

Citizens not serviced by the Tennessee River Chapter can receive smoke detector support by calling their local chapter of the American Red Cross.

To volunteer with the chapter, participants must be at least 18 years old. They do not have to be American Red Cross volunteers. Everyone is welcome to help with the campaign, regardless of their limitations, Kangas said.

“We have some people driving around to deliver water and smoke detectors to the other volunteers,” she said. “Even if you can’t walk long distances, climb stairs or install smoke detectors, you can still be involved. There’s a lot of ways to help with this campaign that aren’t physical.”

Kangas said the chapter is always in need of volunteers.

“The more volunteers that we have, the more homes we can get into, the more people we can help,” she said.

Source: fortcampbell.courier.com 

Fire ravages Yegoala Hotel in Kumasi

Fire has gutted the Yegoala hotel at Ahodwo, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti region.

It is unclear what sparked the fire which has destroyed several items in the hotel, Friday.

Personnel of the fire service are currently at the scene trying to put out the flame.



The Yegoala hotel belongs to the former Ghana International Anthony Yeboah. He has another branch of the hotel in Accra, Ghana’s capital.



 Source: starfmonline.com

GNFS to be proactive than reactive to fires-Chief Fire Officer

 
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

The most important skill in firefighting

What is the most important attribute or skill set to be a successful firefighter? Physical strength? Technical skills? Knowledge of building construction or fire behavior?

All of these are important of course, but I would venture to say that the most important skill or attribute for a firefighter is the ability to work together with others as part of a coordinated team.

More than any other occupation, except perhaps the military, firefighting is something that you absolutely cannot do alone, regardless of your technical skill, physical strength, or personal commitment.

Everything firefighters do is a group effort, from advancement of hose lines to the extrication of a victim from a smashed car. Fire suppression involves both extinguishment and ventilation; investigation and prevention are two sides of the same coin. Without the ability to coordinate with others, the effectiveness of firefighting is lost.

Consider the problem of freelancing in the fire service. Many people who freelance have nothing but noble intentions. They think they see a need others don't see, and they feel empowered to personally meet it.

A freelancer can be the biggest, strongest, most technically skilled person on the department, but that person is also the most dangerous when their actions are not coordinated with the overall effort. Look closely at fire deaths and injuries over the years, and some form of freelancing often comes to the surface.

If the most important aspect of being a firefighter is being able to work as a member of a team, it is a logical progression to say that the most important skill as an officer is to develop that team.

The concept of team building might sound touchy-feely to some and they might prefer to focus their efforts on more technical skills.But the subtext to every activity that firefighters do is that they are doing it in coordination with others. If coordination is lost, or members of the team are seriously at odds with one another, the mission will fail.

Some people feel that every firefighter should have a skill set that is interchangeable with others. It shouldn’t matter who the leader is to get the job done.

Maybe it shouldn’t matter, but it does — not only on the fire scene, but especially during the majority of the time when firefighters are not responding to emergency incidents. Firefighters may go on autopilot to some degree during routine events, but what about when something changes — a wall collapses, a firefighter goes missing, a citizen runs up and says a child has been left behind? At that point it is necessary to shift gears and function seamlessly as a team to meet the new challenge presented.

And what about in the station when a joke goes too far or an argument escalates? At this point the value and mission of the team is the force that can pull people back from conflicting individual interests and behavior that can endanger everyone.

Technical skills are important. Firefighters want their officers to be competent. They want them to have the ability and confidence to evaluate situations and make good decisions.

But for those decisions to be truly effective, they must take into account not only individual interests, but the purpose and abilities of the team as a whole.

So how does one develop the ability to become a good team leader? Many resources can help: classes, books, informal discussions, observation of others, good mentors, analysis of case studies, just trying different things.

But the first, most critical aspect of this skill set is just the acceptance of it — that this is part of the job, this is part of who an officer is. Then every statement, action, and decision go back to the questions: Does this enhance who we are as a team? Are we better as a team that is inclusive of everyone as a result of what we are doing now? Will this action or decision make us better able to serve the public?

Team development and leadership are high level skills. They can take a career to master. Recognizing the importance of this task and accepting responsibility for team development as an officer are the first steps to a highly functional, committed crew, and your own success as a leader.

Source: firerescue1.com

Fire Service undertakes safety audit at GNA

A team of Inspection Task Force from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) on Monday visited the premises of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to assess the level of preparedness in the event of any unforeseen fire outbreaks.

The team which was led by Mr Charles Annobil, the Coordinator of the Inspection and a Station Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, went round the various Departments to ascertain the level of readiness of the Agency for any eventuality.

The Fire Officers also checked on the quality of electrical gadgets, renewals of fire license as well as the fire extinguishers displayed on the premises among other things.

Mr Annobil said the aim of the inspection which was routinely done on a quarterly basis, was to heighten the level of awareness of fire safety among the staff of all institutions as well as the public.

He said fire safety preparedness remains an essential aspect in both environmental and occupational safety and health, as there were numerous examples of physical hazards that has affected many workplaces, and most of them were mainly caused by inadequate strategies in fire prevention, detection and, or fire control.

He referred to fire outbreaks as disasters caused by actions of human beings directly or indirectly, adding that safety must entail all the activities which were geared towards their prevention, early detection and control.

These activities and processes were done to safeguard human life and to preserve property, he said.

Mr Annobil also said fire safety preparedness was one of the four phases of fire emergency management, which was aimed at fire disaster risk reduction, and involves a continuous cycle of planning, organising, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating and improving strategies, to ensure effective coordination and enhancement of capabilities to respond to fire disasters.

He said the fire inspectors during their work scrutinize residential, public and commercial buildings for compliance with fire and life safety codes and ordinances, and prepare inspection reports to be sent to the Director of Safety of the GNFS for onward action.

He said the Task Force looks out for the readiness of an institution’s Management towards fire safety and prevention, the control measures in place, safety gadgets including fire extinguishers, for preventing fire outbreaks, as well as the level of awareness of the staff on safety and prevention of fire. 

Mr Annobil said every institution must have a fire insurance certificate as well as fire extinguishers, which were both subject to yearly renewals, so that in the event of an unforeseen event, insurance could take responsibility of the losses suffered.

He therefore advised the Management of the GNA to ensure the proper installation of life safety requirements, extinguishing systems, and fire alarms.

Source: GNA

GNFS blamed for poor response to Kumasi court fire

A registrar at the Kumasi circuit court, Mrs Mary Osei, in response to the currently fire outbreak at their court chambers, has slapped the Ghana National Fire Service ( G.N.F.S ) for it's poor response towards their call to quench the fire which led to the destruction of some dockets and documents few days ago.

She disclosed this to journalist that, although, the cause of the fire is not clear now but, “the response from the emergency personnel as to which the fire started was very poor”.

Mrs. Osei also added that, as they picked the phone to call the personnel, it took them more time before their arrival, even after their arrival at the scene, the personnel claimed that the rope to be connected to the water tanker was too short to be used”, she added.

Mrs. Osei, further stated that, they could have quenched the fire before it got out of hand, but due to negligence, poor resources and bad attitude of the personnel, the flames got higher.

The circuit court registrar therefore, appealed to the government, to put measures across to overcome such situations as soon as possible.

Source : Sammy Adjei / Newsghana.com.gh

Less Fire Safety, More Risk, More Fire Safety, No Risk

When it comes to ensuring Fire Safety in both our homes and offices, the emphansis is been laid on only public and private places which I think is wrong. Equal attention has to be given to educating our homes and offices to enable us change the attitude of Ghanaians towards practicing the best fire safety culture.

Though I'm quite young, the number fire outbreaks that I have witnessed, have forced me to believe that Ghana as a nation has to take fire safety culture as a serious business, it is only in so doing that we can prevent our lives and property from being destroyed by fires.

The question about whether the National Fire Service is up and doing with regards to educating the public on the best safety practices remains unanswered and whether the the general public is putting into practice what the National Fire Service is preaching has also remained unanswered.

We live in a country where people can use huge sums of Ghana cedis to buy luxury cars but cannot use less than two hundred cedis to buy just one fire extinguisher that can be placed in same car they toiled to buy just in case of any accidental fires.

The story is the same when it comes to our homes. When building our homes. We put in place measures that will prevent any external person that will come and cause harm to us (armed robbers) but do not care about armed robbers that we created through our activities ( fire outbreaks).

We have burglar-proofed all the entrances of our homes but yet there is no single fire extinguisher or early fire detector ( smoke detector ) in our homes.

Majority of Ghanaians have refused to switch off their switches and sockets before leaving their homes and offices. When you go to public places, the first thing one is expected to see is a security officer. A very good example is our banks, one is expected to meet a well equipped police officer and a private security in addition. I bet you, just request for a fire safety officer and they won't be able to provide you one.

Fire Safety Culture is just not the priority of majority of Ghanaians. We have to change our way of life which is to practice what the National Fire Service preaches.

Churches, Schools, Private and public organizations should invite the Fire Service for free education programs. This will go a very long way to help and safeguard us from unwanted fires because 'Fire is a good servant but a bad master'.

Source: By Bless Kwesi Ankudey