Inform public about power outages - Fire Commander

The Sunyani Municipal Fire Commander, Divisional Officer III (DOIII) Solomon Duah Agyemang on Tuesday appealed to the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) to give prior notice to the public before any power outrage.

He said a power outage could be due to a justifiable technical reason such as repair works but if it happened unexpectedly, the resultant effect on consumers was sometimes disastrous.

DOIII Agyemang was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, after the Command attended to two separate fire cases on Monday morning at Berlin Top, a suburb at Fiapre and Odumase in the Sunyani West Municipality.

He said the two fire incidents were allegedly caused by power fluctuations.

He said other preventable causes of fire outbreaks were worrying, not only to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) but the entire citizenry.

DOIII Agyemang, therefore, urged that the public be informed ahead of power outrages to enable them to put off their electrical appliances to prevent fire disasters and destruction of properties.

He said at about 1000 hours on Monday, the Command had a distressed call that fire had gutted a six-bedroom house at Berlin-Top.

He said some fire officers, who were then at Odumase to fight an outbreak, were informed to proceed to that location.

DOIII Agyemang said the fire officers called for reinforcement due to the intensity of the fire before they could bring it under control to prevent its spread to other surrounding houses.

He said two out of six main occupants, who were at home at the time of the incident, told the fire officers there was a power outage in the area.

They said when the power was restored they heard a loud noise in the house but could not trace the source until a neighbour saw a cloud of smoke coming out from the house and alerted them.

DOIII Agyemang said the two occupants could not retrieve any of their belongings as all the six bedrooms were engulfed by fire.

He said estimated the cost of the fire to run in millions of cedis.

He entreated the public not to overload their sockets with electrical gadgets and urged property-owners to rewire their houses within every twenty years.

DOIII Agyemang also asked for the use of concrete for ceilings instead of plaster boards to prevent the quick spread of fire during an outbreak.