A Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO) Heroin S. Boakye, the Bono Regional Commander of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), has appealed to the public to voluntarily join fire volunteer groups to help in the fight against fire disasters in their communities.

DCFO Boakye, who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, said people were reluctant in joining the fire volunteer groups for lack of motivation.

She said those recruited were being trained on how to fight fires in their communities to save lives and properties.

DCFO Boakye assured the Command would constantly use local radio stations to sensitize the public about the dangers of bush fires and how they could contribute to minimizing the danger.

She entreated the public to be extra cautious during the current dry season because any spark of fire could cause serious and tragic fire incident in any community.

DCFO Boakye said the Region in 2020 recorded 332 cases of fire outbreaks with five injuries and no death as against 265 in 2019 with 10 injuries and three deaths.

She said domestic and bush fire cases were the highest with 114 each, commercial 41, vehicle 36, electric 15, institution seven and industrial four.

DCFO Boakye said the Command in its rescue operations attended to 28 cases, saying two persons died while five people also sustained different degrees of injuries.

Also, the Command again attended to 29 road traffic accidents that caused the death of 8 people and injuries to 114 people.

She appealed to non-governmental organizations, Municipal and District Assemblies and their respective directorates of Ministry of Food and Agriculture and agriculture institutions to support the concept of fire volunteer in preventing fire outbreaks and associated disasters.

Divisional Officer III, Ruth Mensah Tandoh, the Bono Regional Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, said because of the rate of market fire outbreaks in some regions recently, fire teams were on patrol in the nights to ensure rapid response to quell any fire outbreak in the communities.

DOIII Tandoh said another fire team of men and women also visited the markets during day time to monitor situations for prompt actions.