The Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Kwame Larbi- Apraku , Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), has bemoaned the number of false alarm calls received by his office last year.
He said from January to December, 2014, the Service received 1,475 public calls but 1,015 of the number proved to be false alarm.
ACFO Larbi-Apraku said the false information, was challenge for the Service since it sometimes resulted in delaying attendance to real fire cases.
He said the Service had a machine that recorded telephone calls reaching their office in the name of reporting fire cases but in the event of ringing or calling back to know the true location of the fire, the callers refuse to respond.
[contextly_sidebar id=”eFmrWnXVpFUvaXsDhJLppW394n6dKbZK”]ACFO Larbi-Apraku advised the public to put a stop to attacking staff of the GNFS for an alleged delay in attending to fire outbreaks or disasters, saying that the Service experienced five mob attacks at fire scenes last year.
He said because of the false alarm the MTN commutation network has withdrawn their free-service on its emergency number 192, adding that the Service “is now using only vodaphone line for receiving public information on fire disasters”.
The Regional Officer of GNFS stated that during the year under review 70 personnel of the Service and 10 civilians were injured in 404 fire cases.
He said estimated the cost of properties destroyed by the fire at GHC3.9 million.
ACF0 Larbi-Apraku said the Service attended to 55 road traffic accidents claiming 10 lives and injuring another 113 people.
He appealed to the public to give the exact location of fire outbreak in their communities to avoid delaying staff of GNFS.
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Source: GNA