Samuel Adjei, a Station Officer (SO) of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) at Dormaa-Ahenkro has suggested the need for more support by traditional authorities and Assemblies to augment efforts in preventing bush fires in the country
He observed some fire prevention volunteers and members of the anti-bushfire campaign squad in some communities were withdrawing their services due to lack of logistics and incentives for work, making the task of controlling and preventing bushfires rather extremely difficult.
SO Adjei, in-charge of rural fires gave the suggestion in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Tuesday at Dormaa-Ahenkro, in the Dormaa Central Municipality of Bono Region to ascertain the challenges impeding the efficient operations of the GNFS, particularly about bush fire prevention in the Municipality.
He said although traditional rulers in some communities have opened their doors to assist in fire prevention education and sensitisation campaigns, others demand some form of payment from the GNFS before assisting in that regard.
SO Adjei said the lack of logistics for the service’s operations was hindering its activities and therefore making it difficult to cover more communities.
He said the ban on hunting which took effect from December 29 last year but there was the need for traditional, religious and opinion leaders in the communities to help in enforcing the ban as one of the effective measures to prevent bush fires.
SO Adjei announced there had been a drastic reduction in bushfire incidents in the municipality because it was reduced from 29 in 2022 to nine in 2023.
According to him, the reduction of the bushfire incidents could be attributed to the excessive rainfalls that was recorded last year and appealed to public-spirited individuals and organisations to offer more assistance to make this year’s campaign against bushfires more successful.
GNA
NOK/ENA
16th Jan. 2024
