World Fire Fighters Day Marked

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) yesterday joined their counterparts around the world to mark World Fire Fighters Day.

It is a day set aside to recognize the role of fighters in saving lives and preventing fires and to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

In Ghana the day was marked in the various fire stations around the country.

The Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Dr. Albert Brown-Gaisie, who took the opportunity of the occasion to talk to the media, asked that corporate organizations create hotlines to the GNFS with a view to calling for assistance when this becomes necessary, adding that such bodies institute measures that would assist in fire prevention.

The CFO pointed at the acquisition of early warning gadgets such as smoke detectors, sprinklers and risers, which corporate organizations must acquire.

According to him, since small fires become big ones it is necessary that they are curbed with the relevant gadgets in their early stages.

The Fire Chief had earlier undertaken a fire audit of selected public organizations in Accra with a view to assessing their fire safety standards.

While assuring the public that the GNFS is always ready to protect lives and property, he called for collaboration from corporate organizations and individuals in this direction.

Members of the public, he said, should learn and appreciate the functions of firefighters.

He called on personnel of the GNFS to protect the corporate image of the organization by being professional and avoid conducts, which have the tendency to bring the Service into disrepute.

To the media, he said “I entreat you to seek clarification to issues when the need arises.”

In the past one year or so many more fire stations have been opened around the country with personnel heightening public education about fire safety.

The Circle fire disaster has gone down as the worst in contemporary times and one which tested the efficiency and professionalism of the GNFS, a test which they passed with excellence, given their rating by members of the public at the time.

By A.R. Gomda