Mr. Pierre Ankomah, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for Jaman South in the 2008 elections, has called on the government to broaden the scope of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in terms of personnel, equipment and service for it to perform as expected.
He said the GNFS "is so important to the safety of citizens and properties that its areas of operation should not be limited to a level that its offices can only be found in the fairly big towns and cities.
Mr. Ankomah made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani in the wake of discussions following the burning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Accra.
He said as a result of the expansion of electricity to most rural communities, the possibility of the occurrence of domestic fires had also increased but noted that most "fairly big" communities were without fire service stations.
Mr. Ankomah added that the rampant outbreak of bushfires in the rural areas called for the establishment of fire service stations in such
communities.
He said the GNFS must be resourced adequately to open fire stations in all the big markets in urban areas to serve "as first aid stations" and also to build fire hydrants in vantage points in urban communities.
Mr. Ankomah said the expansion of the GNFS would also augment the efforts of the government to increase employment avenues.
He called on Municipal and District Chief Executives to cooperate with Municipal and District officers of the Information Services Department, GNFS and the National Commission for Civic Education to form permanent anti-bushfire committees to sensitize the general public on bushfire prevention during the dry season.