Bushfire claims life of three-months old baby

Kpetoe Jan. 31, GNA - A three-month-old baby was burnt to death in a bushfire, which razed through Afokpakope, near Kpetoe in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District on Wednesday. A middle-aged woman also suffered severe burns from the fire, which consumed three thatched-roofed houses in its trail. Mr Joy Agbleze, Public Relations Officer of the Volta Regional Directorate of the Ghana Fire Service, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Ho that his office received a distress call around 1400 hours but before a fire tender got to the community in about 15 minutes, the blaze had gutted the community, killing the child and burning down the houses.

Mr Agbleze attributed the cause of the fire to excessive desire by some "selfish people" for game and firewood. The Adaklu-Anyigbe District has so far recorded 21 bushfires, the highest in the region over the last year.

Mr Agbleze urged political leaders, chiefs and opinion leaders in the District to take measures to reduce the trend. Generally, he also expressed worry about increasing incidence of fire disasters in the first four weeks of the year in the region and suggested that taskforces be formed in the communities to investigate and cause the arrest of people who set bushfires.