Ho, Jan. 24, GNA- The Ho Municipality has recorded a total of 38 fire incidents within the first three weeks of the year. These include 10 domestic, two car, 20 bush, three electrical and three road traffic fires. Mr Emmanuel Sakutey Addo, Ho Municipal Fire Officer who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Ho, said the fires destroyed properties estimated at GHc 8,510. He said while some disasters were caused by "genuine accidents," most fire cases in the Municipality were due to carelessness.

Mr Addo said the Ho Municipal Fire Service had embarked on a 24-hour monitoring to reverse the trend and warned that anyone arrested for setting fire indiscriminately would be arrested and prosecuted. He said there were rumours that most of the bushfires that occurred in the municipality were set by Fulani herdsmen and called on the traditional rulers and people to assist Fire Service personnel to arrest the miscreants.

Mr Addo said even though there was no life lost in fire disasters in the municipality last year, a total of 35 fire outbreaks were recorded as against 23, in 2006. He said these included 13 domestic, 13 bushfires, three vehicular and six electrical fire outbreaks as compared to 11 domestic, one vehicular, six bush and seven electrical fire disasters in 2006. Mr Addo said the fires destroyed properties worth GHc 8,850 in 2006 and GHc 12,050 last year.