Traders to be educated on fire prevention

A year-long sensitisation programme on how to reduce market fires has been drawn up for market women in Accra.

The programme was jointly put together by the Greater Accra Regional Co-coordinating Council, the Ghana National Fire Service, (Accra Regional Command), the Ghana Police Service, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the National Lotteries and a private insurance company, Insurance Plus. It is expected to equip market women with the requisite knowledge on how to avert market fires.

For starters, on March 1, 2014, traders at the Makola Number 1 Market will be taken through how to prevent fires from happening. Press briefing 

At a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Julius Debrah, said it was time to be proactive, instead of reactive, on market fires.

He said it was imperative for market women to be educated on the dangers of market fires, instead of waiting for the fires to occur and console them afterwards.

He appealed to the media to use their platforms to inform and educate the public on the programme and subsequent ones. Causes of fire outbreaks 

The Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Fire Service, Mr Oheneba Kwateng, said most of the market fires were caused by illegal electricity connections or substandard wiring done by non-qualified persons.

He said some people also used bare wires to tap electricity from unapproved sources and advised against that practice. Approved wires for wiring 

A safety engineer with the ECG, Accra West District, Mr Bonaparte Acquah, said it was important to use 1.5mm wire for lighting wiring and 2.5mm for socket wiring.

He further advised the use of 16mm for service wiring. 

He used the platform to erase the erroneous impression created by many that electricity caused fire outbreaks, explaining that “electricity does not cause fire outbreaks but its application does”.