The Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would be organising an awareness programme to educate traders on the need to prevent fire outbreaks in markets.
Mr Julius Debrah, Greater Accra Regional Minister, at a press conference on Monday said the programme is in collaboration with the Accra Regional Command of the National Fire Service and the Ghana Police Service, and that, the initiative would enable the ministry and the security service to proactively contribute their quota towards the development of the country.
Mr Debrah said this would be a constant educational campaign to enable traders to be abreast with basic preventive measures, rather than wait for fire outbreaks to occur before showing sympathy to affected victims.
He appealed to the media to come on board and help in disseminating the educational message to the Ghanaian populace to help prevent unnecessary fire outbreaks.
Mr James Oheneba Yaw Kwateng, Public Relations Officer, speaking on behalf of the Ghana National Fire Service, said the programme is laudable and must be supported to help stem the tide of market fires in the Accra metropolis.
Mr Kwateng said the Accra Regional Command deploys staff on daily basis and observed that activities of traders such as illegal connection, people cooking in the markets, lack of segregation of goods, bare wires used in tapping electricity, building wooden structures with no fire extinguishers, LPG use in the market, one electrical meter serving the whole market, storage of cooking oils in large quantities, among others, are the major causes of outbreaks and would be focusing their attention in that line during the awareness.
He assured that this would help in reducing these hazards to the barest minimum and save the country from further market fires, adding that, any loss through fire is a national loss therefore the need for prevention.
Mr Bonaparte Acquah, Electricity Ghana Company (ECG) Safety Engineer said most outbreaks in the markets are caused by electrical faults, he however pointed out that electricity does not cause fire outbreaks but rather its usage by consumers.
Mr Acquah however advised that all electrical gadgets should be put off when power goes off, since there is a surge in the voltage when power is restored, which sometimes can also be a contributing factor to fire outbreaks.
He said the use of standard wire by ECG or electrical engineers for wiring should be encouraged in the market places and homes to curb the rate of outages.
He noted that electrical wires such as 1.5mm, 2.5mm, 4mm, 6mm, 10mm, 16mm, 25mm, and 35milimeter are all different electrical cables that serve a purpose due to its voltage capacity and advised electricians to be mindful of what they use for a particular electrical works to prevent fire outbreaks.
Hr said the awareness programme would be held at the Makola Number One market on March 1st at 08:00 hours and urged all traders in and around the area to attend.
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