By Joyce Kantam Kolamong
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has held a training workshop for its staff on fire safety in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital. The workshop seeks to equip staff with new strategies and techniques to improve on its performance in the fight against fire outbreaks.
The training brought together the Regional fire safety department, metropolitan, municipal, and district fire officers and its safety officers and some selected staff.
The Northern Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service responded to about 218 fire outbreaks in the first half of 2022 as compared to about 147 fires in 2023. The command has attributed this achievement to intense public education undertaken to preach fire safety consciousness to people and subsequently reduce the incidence of fire outbreaks.
Fire outbreaks are highest in the first and last quarters of the year in the Northern region. While training participants on new and improved ways of fighting fires, the workshop also sensitized them to issuance of fire certificates, fire permits and fire trainings to generate revenue for the station. The Northern Regional Fire Officer, ACFO1 James Ankrah said there has been significant improvement in the first half of this year compared to 2022 on fire outbreaks and safety hence the need for more training to achieve targeted results.
He said more training will be conducted to better position staff to educate and fight fires. He advised the public to be conscious of fire hazards.
Mr Ankrah called on institutions, offices and owners of buildings to secure fire certificates and permits to safeguard human lives and properties.
The Northern Regional Safety Inspector, Divisional Officer grade I (DO I) Jemima Musah, said fire certifications and permits are very important in the work of the service. She called on staff to be more professional in that regard to reduce the incidence of fire outbreaks while raking in revenue.