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Regional News of Thursday, 31 May 2007

Source: GNA

Fire consumes over 2 billion cedis worth of property in Bawku

Bawku (U/E), May 31, GNA - One person died and over two billion cedis worth of properties were destroyed in 33 fire outbreaks recorded last year in the Bawku Municipality. The first quarter of this year has seen the municipality recording six cases as compared to eight last year.

Mr. John Atugiba, Municipal Fire Officer, told the the Ghana News Agency in an interview that this had been unprecedented in the history of the municipality. He said domestic fires topped with 18 cases followed by bushfires, 6, commercial fires, 4, vehicular, 4 and industry, 1. Mr. Atugiba listed the likely cause of such fires as negligence, carelessness, dysfunctional electrical gadgets and intermitted power outages.

He said May recorded the highest number of reported cases whilst there was no fire outbreak in July. The Fire Officer said most of the fires could have been managed if they had been reported promptly to the fire station. Mr. Atugiba said services offered by Fire Service were free of charge and called on property owners to inform Fire Service on time in order to save their properties from total destructions. He said the station intended to extend its outreach programmes to the villages but this was being hampered by logistical problems and appealed to non-governmental bodies to assist. He cautioned some unscrupulous members of the public who give false alarms and advised that they should desist from such acts. GNA