Kumasi (Ashanti), 15 Feb ’99 –
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) will start detailing firemen to patrol the Anloga Timber Market regularly as a measure to help curb the frequent fire outbreaks there. The firemen will, therefore, report anybody who will be found setting fire to the Police, Mr Albert Brown Gaisie, Ashanti Regional Fire Officer, announced at Anloga at the week-end. Addressing small-scale carpenters during a follow up to the scene of last week’s fire outbreak which destroyed about 15 carpenters’ workshops, Mr Gaisie said it will also establish a fire volunteer squad within the community to help fight fire outbreaks. He asked them to be vigilant and watch out always for people who will set fire and arrest them, pointing out that, one of the major problems facing the service and, in fact the whole country, is the refusal of people to identify culprits or neighbours who cause fire outbreaks.
Mr Gaisie reminded them that, whenever there is a fire outbreak and the destruction of property, it is not only the government which suffers but most of all, it is the victims. He ordered all charcoal burners to move out of the place where they have been operating since they constitute the major source of fire outbreaks there. The carpenters complained that they are not able to insure their workshops because the insurance companies have refused to insure them on the grounds that it is a fire prone area. Anloga is a migrant settlement in Kumasi where most of the people are carpenters.
