Give Every House Fire Extinguisher

Landlords in the Effutu Municipality have been advised to equip their houses with fire extinguishers to take care of emergency domestic fire outbreaks. This would prevent such disasters from escalating, Mr Justine Gokah, Fire Safety Officer of the Effutu Municipal Office gave the advice a public forum at Winneba. He also urged storekeepers operating in the area to do same. Mr Gokah charged landlords already in possession of fire extinguishers to safeguard the interests of their tenants and properties by ensuring that such vital equipment were renewed at the end of every year. He said that although in cases of major fire outbreaks one cannot rely solely on fire extinguishers to fight it, such facility could be used to save the situation if the disaster is noticed early. He said that the laws and regulations governing the country makes it mandatory for every landlord or house owner to equip his or her house with quality fire extinguishers to protect lives and property. Mr Gokah explained that landlords who refuse to abide by the laws and regulations governing fire outbreaks could be arrested and prosecuted. He appealed to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to initiate special programmes to educate people, especially landlords, on fire safety issues, to buttress the efforts of the Ghana National Fire Service to curbing rampant domestic and other fire outbreaks. Mr Gokah further explained that the use of fire extinguishers to combat fire outbreaks in emergency cases can help protect vital office records, machines, and other properties which could be easily destroyed by water, hence the need for household and organisations to always strive to apply fire extinguishers at their disposal first during fire outbreaks in their homes and workplaces instead of water. He praised workers of the Effutu Municipal Hospital in Winneba for using only fire extinguishing method to put off the fire which broke out at the X�Ray Department recently, saying the method the workers applied protected the highly expensive and quality health delivery machines being used by the hospital. He said that the machines would have suffered an irreparable damage if the workers had applied both fire extinguisher and water to bring the situation under control before the personnel of the GNFS arrived at the scene. Mr Livingstone Abotui, also of the Municipal Fire Officer reminded Ghanaians that fire safety work is a collective responsibility and charged the citizenry to collaborate with officials and personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service to ensure quality service delivery in times of fire outbreaks. Mr Abotsui advised developers to ensure that adequate emergency exit points were created for every housing project they construct to avoid the lost of lives during fire disasters. He assured people in and around the Municipality of the serivice's cooperation, adding that our doors are opened always for your useful ideas, comments, and suggestions for the promotion of fire service functions.