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The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has called on the public to desist from making prank calls to its emergency numbers to support efforts to improve fire safety in the country.

According to the Service, the practice was a drain on its limited resources to promptly respond to fake emergencies, thereby, depriving real fire victims of the needed support.

Bemoaning the phenomenon, Division Officer (DOIII) Paul Tawiah, the Assin-Fosu Municipal Fire Officer, told the Ghana News Agency the act was "increasing and worrying."

"It is very unfortunate to have personnel move a fire tender with blaring siren just to realize there is no fire outbreak after getting to a particular supposed scene," he said.

In the Assin-Fosu Municipality, he said, the Service had received four prank calls between January and June.

He mentioned Assin-Dompim, Andoe, Akomfode-Camp and Darmang as the leading communities for prank calls.

"We received a distress call from Assin-Darmang about a fire outbreak and quickly rushed to the community only to realize it was a false alarm. This is very disheartening."

He said the perpetrators disabled their telephones after making the call, thereby making it difficult to trace them.

However, he hinted that the Service was collaborating with other security agencies to get perpetrators arrested to face the full rigours of the law.

DOIII Tawiah cautioned the residents to regularly renovate all hand-dug wells, particularly prior to the rainy season to prevent the rising instances of cave-ins in the area.

He said the Service was committed to deepening sensitization on fire safety as part of measures to prevent fire disasters, especially in communities and market centres.

“Since fire prevention is a shared responsibility, we as a Region are making a passionate appeal to every individual to take fire safety awareness seriously and observe the dos and don’ts of fire.

“Everyone should also try and own a simple fire extinguisher that he or she can use to control the fire before calling Fire Service,” he said.

The Commander noted that non-adherence to simple fire safety measures like cooking and using fire with strict supervision, engaging professional electricians in electrical installations and periodically conducting an electrical audit of public places like markets were the cause of most fire disasters.

He appealed to benevolent individuals and organizations to support the Service in the area with logistics to help them deliver their services effectively.