The Hon. Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has opened the maiden Fire Conference in Accra aimed at advancing the agenda of public fire safety in the country.
He said the issue of Fire Safety is fast becoming an area which requires “an-all-hands-on-deck approach” to ensure that it is holistically tackled.
“From general safety, food security, to the protection of our properties and investments, we are highly dependent on fire safety services delivered by the Ghana National Fire Service”, he added.
The Minister disclosed that to augment the hard work by the Ghana National Fire Service to save lives and properties, the Government is considering the procurement of Rapid Intervention Vehicles (RIVs) to help the Service navigate its way through traffic to arrive at emergency scenes on time.
He explained that the RIVs have dual purpose of fighting fires and for Road Traffic Extrication and that one RIV has been delivered to the Ghana National Fire Service on a pilot basis.
Hon. Ambrose Dery implored participants to pay particular attention to the phenomenon of burnt to death cases which seem to be on the rise in the country in their deliberations so that at the end of the conference a clear cut solution would be proffered by stakeholders to arrest the situation.
He urged the public to support the relentless efforts being made by Government and the Ghana National Fire Service by adhering to good Fire Safety Practices in order to curb the incidence of fire outbreaks and other emergency occurrences.
Hon. Ambrose Dery urged the GNFS to intensify public education on fire safety so that fire outbreaks in the country would be reduced. According to him, fire safety is very important because if not addressed, fire ravages could destroy Government’s flagship projects such as the Planting for Food and Jobs and One District, One Factory.
He commended the Fire Service Council, the Chief Fire Officer and the entire Management of the Ghana National Fire Service for the initiative of bringing together relevant Institutions to chart the course of advancing public fire safety.
The three days conference, which is being organised by the Ghana National Fire Service, is on the theme,
“Enhancing Effective Fire Management for National Development”.
