By: Juliet Mettle-Edmonds
From January to August 2022, 785 bushfires occurred in Ghana, as against 563 in the same period of 2023. This represents a reduction of 222. The month of January in both years recorded the highest according to statistics from the National Fire Service.
In an effort to ensure further reduction, eleven persons have been selected from education and disaster-related organizations to help the Fire Service devise a mechanism for preventing fire outbreaks in the country.
This has become very crucial considering the deaths, economic loss and environmental damage caused by fire outbreaks.
About 99 per cent of the bushfires are caused by human activities, either deliberately or accidentally through hunting, festivals, pasture management, palm wine tapping, or smoking. Only one percent (1%) is said to be natural, caused by lightning, sparks from falling rocks – especially in hilly areas, and spontaneous combustion.
In January 2023, the service recorded 227 bushfires, 181 in February, 84 in March and April 55. In May it was reduced to 10, and June and July recorded 1 each. And in August it increased to 4.
The Ghana National Fire Service says, the months of December, January, February, March and April, are the peak periods for such fires. The annual destruction includes burning of farmlands and farm produce, death of animals and human beings, burning of forest cover, homes and Ozone layers depletion.
The eleven persons selected to work with the Fire Service for fire prevention have been drawn from various state agencies including NADMO, Forestry Commission, Energy Commission, Ministry of Education, Meteo, Lands Commission, COCOBOD, Ministry of Agric, Environmental Protection Agency, NIC, and the Interior Ministry.
The Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Julius Kuunuor is hopeful the initiative will make a difference.
‘One of the major strategies is to organize public Fire Education programmes on bushfires to create and sustain national awareness on the need to prevent and control bushfires’.
‘The role of the individual citizen in the prevention of bushfires is therefore key. It should be a shared responsibility and everybody should be involved. Fire, it will always take a concerted effort of all stakeholders to be able to achieve desired efforts to build a better Mother Ghana’.
‘Our focus as a Service now, is to ensure a Fire Free Ghana through intensive Public Fire Safety Education. The Service is therefore determined to meet its target of reducing fire outbreak by sixty percent by December, 2023. This could only be possible by aggressively embarking on house to house as well as Radio and Television Education programmes on Fire Safety Precaution Campaign Nationwide.
Over two hundred thousand cedis (GHC200,000) is needed to embark on a week-long campaign for fire prevention.
The Consultant for the GNFS @60, Mr. Williams Owusu-Amponsah, urged all stakeholders to support the cause.
The Campaign will run under the theme “60 YEARS OF Existence: bushfire prevention-key to sustaining our National Resources and Food Security”.
