The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has offered his consolation to the 60-year-old visually impaired individual, Agya Darteh, who lost his 7-bedroom apartment to a fire outbreak.
The incident occurred at Mpatasie in Berekum East.
When the fire occurred, residents claimed efforts to contact the fire service were hindered by the unavailability of functioning equipment at the nearby station, while the next available station arrived without water in their fire tender.
Providing an update on the matter, Divisional Officer II Desmond Ackah, the Public Relations Officer for the Ghana National Fire Service, stated that the fire tender in the Berekum Fire Station had developed a fault since August this year, and residents, opinion leaders, and local authorities were aware of that.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, efforts to have this issue resolved have not yielded positive results.
He said because the residents were aware of the situation, when the outbreak occurred, they called a private vehicle that had extinguishers in it with the hope of dousing the fire; however, when they got there, they realised the fire was not something they could deal with using the extinguishers.
”That meant that they did not inform the Berekum Fire Service on time. Our personnel deployed to the scene arrived in nine minutes, but unfortunately, the fire had already destroyed a major portion of the building, making it impossible to use the extinguishers. That was how the team from Nsuatre was called to come over. They managed to bring down the fire.”
He said the team from Brekum rather deserve to be commended for their efforts.
”They did not go empty-handed. They went there with four extinguishers, but the situation was serious. Their tender was faulty, but they made efforts in controlling the fire. That was how the team from Nsuatre was called as backup. He also refuted the claim that we did not control the fire. The Nsuatre team arrived at the scene in 17 minutes. No casualties were recorded, but the building got damaged.”
He appealed to the public to always verify information before circulating it and also avoid attacking fire officers since their core mandate is to help. on dealing with outbreaks.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana