FIRE VOLUNTEER SQUADS REVIVED IN WESTERN REGION (PAGE 42, MAY 6, 2010)

IN the early 1980s, the country witnessed devastating bush fires which caused extensive damage to its forest cover and arable lands, destroying both food and cash crops.
Cocoa farms were seriously affected, making many cocoa farmers in the country very poor and miserable. Most of them found it difficult to recover from the calamity.
The problem was compounded by the deportation of Ghanaians resident in Nigeria in 1983 which aggravated the famine situation in the country.
The many bush fires prompted the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to be proactive by establishing fire volunteer squads, particularly in the rural areas throughout the country, to save the situation which was getting out of hand.
The fire volunteer squads worked assiduously to educate the citizenry, prevent and fight the fire outbreaks in their respective communities and that contributed greatly to bring the precarious situation under control.
The squads were phased out immediately the situation improved and now nothing is heard about the volunteers who did a great job to save the situation at that time.
It is, therefore, heart-warming to hear that the Western Regional Command of the GNFS has revived the fire volunteer squads.
Already, 116 fire volunteers from the Shama, Wassa Amenfi, Juaboso, Bia and Aowin Suaman districts in the Western Region have been trained.
According to the Western Regional Commander of the GNFS, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) S.O. Cobbina, as a result of climate change and its effect on the environment, the Rural Fire Unit of the service had intensified its outreach programme to educate the various communities during the harmmatan season.
The programme, he explained, was premised on the re-training of fire volunteers, the intensification of bush fire prevention education campaign and the revival of trained fire volunteers.
The launch of the 2009/2010 anti-bush fire campaign took place at Obing, near Asankragwa, in the Wassa Amenfi West District on January 22, this year.
The regional commander said the command had mounted a series of campaigns on some radio stations to educate the public on the need to imbibe the concept of fire education and prevention in various homes and at workplaces, since it had been established that public-Fire Service collaboration had always yielded fruitful results.
Mr Cobbina presented a report on the activities of the service and the fire situation undertaken by the command for the first quarter of this year.
He said the year’s activities began with the intensification of fire safety programmes which were subsumed under the previous year’s activities, based on a strategic directive document from the Chief Fire Officer directing all regional commanders to pursue seriously the fire safety educational campaign regarding laid down procedures enshrined in LI 1724.
Mr Cobbina stressed that the command still maintained fire safety as its prime focus and that 55 organisations and institutions in the region applied for fire certificates and training.
He said a regional team had been assembled to compete in this year’s national extrication challenge to test the skills and competence of first responders in rescue operations and the saving of lives involved in road traffic accidents.
On the operational front, he said the command had eight fire appliances, including a first-aid appliance and a water tanker, which were all serviceable.
He said the Emergency Medical Technicians of the Ghana Ambulance Service underwent a two-week course in life threatening emergencies at the Sekondi Naval Base with the aim of improving casualty handling and other related issues.
He announced that 24 fire outbreaks occurred in the region during the first quarter of this year, at a cost of over GH¢5 million.
According to Mr Cobbina, they included domestic, vehicular, electrical, industrial, commercial and bush fire outbreaks.
He mentioned some of the affected areas as the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, the Wassa Amenfi West, Prestea/Huni Valley, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Ahanta West and Jomoro districts.