Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Heroine S. Boakye, the Bono Regional Commander of the GNFS, who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, said the menace could lead to genuine cases not receiving help promptly.

She said besides the loss of precious operational time, such calls contributed to waste of scarce resources needed by the Service for efficient operations.

She advised that aside calling fire officers early, the public must endeavour to provide correct address and direction to the locations of fire incidents since that helped immensely for quick arrival of personnel to save lives and property and prevent the spread of fire from causing further damage to the environment.

ACFO Boakye said the Bono Region recorded a total of 308 fires, road transport accidents and rescue cases, with 90 injuries and 14 deaths in 2019.

She said monthly group total cases were January, 58, February, 45 , March, 54 , April 27 , May, 14, June 8, July 13, August 17, September, 13, October, 19, November, 18 and December 22.

She explained, however, that total fire cases recorded within the year was 265 with 10 injuries and three deaths while RTAs was 26 with 26 deaths and 77 injuries and 16 rescue operations with nine injuries.

ACFO Boakye gave the assurance that the Command would intensify public education on fire safety and assist in training more volunteers to prevent the bush fire menace in the Region.

She stressed the need for families and individuals to install fire detectors in their homes to ensure early detection of fire, which could be extinguished immediately. 

ACFO Boakye urged the public to be cautious since the dry season was gradually peaking and a little spark of fire could result in disaster.