Take fire safety measures seriously

Sat. January 16, 2010
THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has asked institutions and individuals to take fire safety and preventive measures seriously because the service does not have the capacity and equipment to combat all fires in the event of their outbreak.
The Dangme West District Fire Officer, Mr Courage K. Ametewee, who gave the advice, made reference to the fire which engulfed the 10-storey building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra on October 21, 2009 and said when the incident occurred, the GNFS marshalled all its resources to the site but that could not save the building because of serious challenges.
Addressing a day’s workshop for fire and peace volunteers drawn from communities around Dodowa and Ayikuma in the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra Region, Mr Ametewee said it was always better to prevent the outbreak of a fire than to take chances with the hope that that fire could be put out.
The workshop, which was scheduled to be replicated in the remaining zones within the district, was held by the district office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Dangme West District Assembly.
Topics treated were the concept of conflict and conflict management; the concept of peace and the attributes of a peace maker; fire and fire safety, as well as education on influenza pandemic H1N1 (swine flu).
Touching on fire fighting, Mr Ametewee said firemen usually depended on available fire fighting equipment in times of fire, adding that there were situations when although firemen would be available, they might not be in the position to completely fight the fire, depending on its intensity and firemen’s accessibility to the source of fire.
He, however, said personnel of the service were doing all that they could under the circumstances to save lives and property and advised the public to offer them the needed support.
On conflicts, the District Disaster Control Officer of NADMO, Ms Victoria Okutu, urged the volunteers to endeavour to find amicable solutions to minor conflicts which began in their communities and not allow them to degenerate into violent situations.
She, however, said those which were criminal in nature should be reported to the appropriate authorities, adding that the volunteers should always have the attributes of mediators in order to win the confidence and trust of the people they lived with.
Ms Okutu educated the participants on: What is conflict; types of conflicts; conflict management; the conflict tree; process of conflict resolution; negotiation; mediation; arbitration; attributes of a mediator, among other relevant topics.
On the H1N1 influenza, the Deputy Chief Disaster Control Officer at the NADMO headquarters in Accra, Mr Ruth Arthur, stated that the pandemic was still a serious health problem which must continue to be treated with all the seriousness it deserved.
Ms Arthur, who is also the Desk Officer for Disease and Epidemic Disasters, said as of December 31, 2009, 55 H1N1 cases had been reported in Ghana, with no deaths so far.
She took the opportunity to educate the participants on the background of the pandemic; disease profile; mode of transmission; symptoms; treatment; the impact of the disease on society, as well as preparations made by the country to reduce its impact on society.
For his part, the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Nomotey Tesia, advised the participants to put into practice the knowledge they had acquired for the benefit of their respective communities, adding that in so doing, the assembly would be encouraged to offer more of such assistance to others.
The Chairman for the function, who is also the District NADMO Co-ordinator, Mr Ebenezer Kwame Adzakli, advised assembly members to report all wrongdoing in the communities, specifically those who built on water courses and other unapproved areas, for the right thing to be done.