Government urged to provide adequate fire tenders

Kumasi, April 29, GNA - Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, the Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a civil engineering and road construction firm, on Friday appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, provide fire tenders and other equipment to all fire stations in the country.

He said this was crucial because equipping all the districts with fire tenders was the surest guarantee to combating fires in the country. Mr Prempeh made the appeal in an interaction with a group of community and opinion leaders in Kumasi on the contributions they could make towards prevention of fires.

He said even though the government had made strides in the recruitment of fire personnel, that alone was not enough if fire outbreaks are to be effectively combated.

Mr Prempeh expressed concern about the hostile behaviour of the public towards fire officers when fires occur.

"The tendency to assault and insult fire officers when they arrive late at fire scenes should be discouraged".

He said the late arrival of fire personnel should not be blamed on the GNFS but on society itself since most often "some people and vehicles deliberately block the fire tender even when it is on an emergency mission".

Mr Prempeh said this apart, communities are so poorly planned that when fire tenders get to the scene of the fire, they sometimes find it difficult having access.