Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) personnel will today, Wednesday,4th May 2022 join others in the continent to observe International Firefighter’s Day.
The day was instituted on 4 January 1999 after a proposal via email out across the world due to the deaths of five firefighters in a bushfire in Australia.
Therefore, this day is observed to recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible.
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is one of the Agencies under the Ministry of the Interior.
The Service was re-established by an Act of Parliament in 1997, Ghana National Fire Service Act, 1997, Act 537. The objective of the Service is to prevent and manage undesired fires.
Under the strategic objectives of the mother ministry, The Ghana National Fire Service is required to provide adequate protection of life and property and sensitize and provide technical assistance and advice to schools, markets, MMDAs, lorry parks, and other institutions nationwide on fire safety measures. The major program and projects assigned to the Service are Fire Management, Rescue, and Extrication services.
Recently, Management of the Ghana National Fire Service said they have taken notice of a recent trend of Assault on firefighters by a section of the general public thus preventing personnel from conducting their legal mandate as Fire Officers.
It would be recalled that over the last few months there have been attacks on Fire Officers the recent one being the Asamankese attack in the Eastern Region and Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region.
Management takes a serious view of this shameful act by a section of the public, who have perpetrated this crime with the excuse that Firefighters did not attend to the fire incident early enough.
It should be noted that Fire Officers can only be able to attend to emergencies when they are called early. Response time is very key to firefighting and therefore we do not compromise on that.
In the case of the Asamankese attack, the fire tender had broken down and there was nothing the Fire Officers could do but to fall on Kade Fire Station which was quite a distance away.
Also, some irate youths of Dawhenya were demonstrating and set tyres on fire in the middle of
the road. Firefighters were called to douse the fire but were attacked with stones and missiles as a result three (3) of the firefighters sustained various degrees of injuries.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Mensah Atakora
