GNFS warns of more market fires if .... Daily Graphic

THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has alerted assemblies that more fire outbreaks could occur at the markets if the recommended fire safety measures are not implemented.
According to the service, the recommendations made to the assemblies were intended to reduce potential fire risk at the marketplaces.
The GNFS made some recommendations to assemblies a few months ago after investigations into market fires to ensure that the markets were safe from potential fire risks.
Congestion, overage wiring, illegal connections, cooking at the markets and negative human behaviour were listed as some of the causes of the fires at the markets.
The GNFS recommended that water hydrants, rewiring, fire posts, alleys, fire defence systems, communication facilities to call the Fire Service, among others, be made available at the markets to make the fight against market fires easy.
A number of fire outbreaks were recorded at various markets across the country in the first half of the year, notable among which were the Kantamanto, Makola Number Two, Makola Shopping Mall and the Kumasi Central markets, leading to loss of property and livelihood worth millions of cedis.
However, during a media tour of the Kantamanto Market in Accra on Wednesday, it was revealed that the traders had returned to the wooden structures which had been burnt by the fire.
Also, the market did not have water hydrants, fire posts, communication facilities and alleys as recommended by the service.
A number of cooking activities were also going on at the market, while electrical sockets were overloaded at some areas, while there were illegal connections.

The challenges
Briefing the media after the tour, the Greater Accra Fire Officer, Mr Kwame Kwarteng, said the service faced serious challenges because it did not receive the needed cooperation from the various stakeholders and the public. 
For instance, he said, during the fire outbreak at Kantamanto, the GNFS had to go through difficult situations before it could access the area to fight the fire.
Therefore, after the fire, he said, the GNFS expected that the local authorities would ensure that proper structures and fire safety measures were put in place to avoid future occurrence.
Mr Kwarteng indicted that the market had a mix of explosive and non-explosive materials which posed a serious threat to lives and property there.
He said the public, on many occasions, blamed the GNFS for delays in getting to fire scenes, which was mostly due to the problem of inaccessibility.
He also expressed worry over encroachment on water hydrants by traders, making it very difficult to access water to fight fires.

Recommendations
Therefore, Mr Kwarteng urged local authorities to vacate the slum areas and ensure that proper structures were put up with safety measures adopted.
He said the markets were overage and needed to be redesigned and rewired to contain the pressure of the growing population and also have some facilities.
He called for cooperation between stakeholders and the GNFS to ensure fire safety, prevention and protection.