The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has conducted fire safety audits on 4,349 old and new facilities in all the regions of the country.
In addition to the fire audits, which began in January, last year, 9,997 educational campaigns were held in the regions as part of the service’s effort to reduce the prevalence of fire outbreaks in the country.
The facilities that were covered by the exercise included markets, gas and fuel stations, churches and mosques, farming and fishing communities, hotels, restaurants and hospitals.
The safety audits were to ensure that the facilities were updated with early fire warning and detective systems, small fire fighting equipment, source of water for fire fighting, hose reels, notices and places of assembly during emergencies.
For the educational campaigns, they were meant to help create awareness of fire outbreaks and how to prevent them.
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GNFS, Divisional Officer I, Ellis Robinson Okoe, said the move had become necessary because of the number of fire outbreaks each year and the cost that came with them.
He stated that all the facilities captured in the fire safety audits had been given deadlines to meet the required standards or risk being shut down.
He said the GNFS had also observed that private residences were also prone to fires and, therefore, the service had made a proposal for the promulgation of a Legislative Instrument to make it compulsory for such buildings to also have fire safety mechanisms.
