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The Ashanti Region has recorded a 20.4 percent decrease in fire outbreaks for the first half of this year as compared to 2020.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Henry Giwah, the acting Regional Commander of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), said a total of 622 fire outbreaks were recorded between January and June, this year, as against 749 recorded within the same period last year.

The incidents covered domestic, industrial, vehicular, institutional, commercial, and bush fires.

ACFO Giwah, who was addressing a press conference in Kumasi, said nine people perished in the fire cases for the first half of this year, while three lost their lives in last year’s cases recorded within the same period.

The estimated cost of these outbreaks, according to him, covered tens of thousands of Ghana Cedis, adding that more than 150 people sustained various degrees of injuries in the incidents.

ACFO Giwah warned that fire outbreaks in whatever form could be devastating if measures were not put in place to reduce their occurrence.

He affirmed the GNFS’s resolve to continue to engage stakeholders to reduce fire outbreaks to the barest minimum, thereby avoiding the related negative consequences.

He appealed to the public to avoid assaulting firefighters as happened in some Zongo communities in the Region recently.

“It is unfortunate the way some of our men and fire tenders were attacked in their line of duty for no justifiable reasons,” the acting GNFS Regional Commander lamented.

The issue, he said, had been officially reported to the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) for the necessary action to be taken.