Interior Minister Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has disclosed that the Ghana National Fire Service currently has 247 fire appliances that they use in dealing with fire outbreaks across the country.
Out of the figure, the minister says 199 are in commission, with 48 of them damaged and being repaired.
He was responding to a question posed by Deputy Minority Leader Madam Patricia Appiagyei on behalf of Old Tafo Member of Parliament Ekow Vincent Assafuah.
The fire equipment he stated includes trucks, recovery trucks, turntables, among others.
‘’The Ghana Fire Service has a total of 247 fire appliances across the country. Out of this number, 199 are in commission and 48 are out of commission and are being worked on at the various mechanical workshops in the regions to ensure their continuous use. Mr Speaker, appliances include all fire fighting trucks, recovery trucks, turntable ladders, hydrophilic platforms and water tankers.’’
He also disclosed that the GNFS currently has a total workforce of 17,514 personnel deployed to the various regions across the country to perform various operational duties.
‘’However, the service lacks adequate and required modern firefighting logistics to confront fire outbreaks, as you can attest to recent fire outbreaks in several markets throughout the country. To address the situation, the Ministry of Interior has earmarked the Ghana National Service as one of the state institutions to be retooled. Efforts would be put in place to replace all the old fire tenders with state-of-the-art multipurpose fire tenders,’’ he announced.
When asked to disclose the exact timeline for the purchasing of the new tenders, he said his ministry was currently in talks with the finance ministry in this regard for allocations to be made; hence, it would be difficult to give a timeline as to when the new tenders would be brought in.
He stressed that the tenders we have at the moment are over 50 years old and ought to be replaced.
By: rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
