The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has bemoaned the persistent attacks on firefighters in the course of discharging their duties in the Ashanti Region.
“The Regional Command is not happy at the way fire tenders deployed to attend to fire outbreaks are pelted with stones without any provocation,” Divisional Officer (DO) III Desmond Ackah, the Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO), GNFS, noted.
He said the unhealthy practice had led to the damage of some of the Service’s fire tenders, while some personnel were injured from such attacks.
DO III Ackah, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, said the latest assault occurred at Moshie Zongo on Tuesday, July 27, as some fire tenders, on their way to control a fire outbreak, were repeatedly pelted with stones by some rowdy youth.
The personnel, he said, had to return to base as they left the scene for their safety given the resistance they encountered.
Two kids, trapped in their room, got burnt in the inferno and their remains had since been deposited at the morgue for autopsy.
“They accused us of moving to the area late, however, this is not the case since we acted swiftly in mobilizing fire tenders stationed at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Fire Unit to be there on time,” he told the GNA.
“As a matter of fact, we went there fully equipped, and so the suggestion that there was no water in our tanks is also not true,” the PRO insisted.
DO III Ackah emphasized that it took firefighters about 13 minutes to cover the distance from the Fire Unit to the affected area, therefore, the argument that the fire tenders arrived late lacked basis.
“We have realized it is becoming a trend in the Region, especially in the Zongo communities,” he affirmed, adding that such a development was dangerous, because of the destructive nature of fire.
Communities, where the GNFS personnel had suffered the unfortunate attacks in recent times, include Tafo-Zongo, Pankrono-Zongo and Anloga Junction.
The GNFS Regional Command, according to the PRO, had taken the matter up and would be petitioning the appropriate quarters for the right thing to be done.
