Ghana: No water and firemen 'too old"

From the Ghanian Journal - Link

Fifteen families were last Friday rendered homeless after fire gutted the rooms they were occupying on the upper floor of a two-storey building near the main lorry station at Assin –Fosu.

All their belongings were burnt to ashes, while the roof of the building was destroyed.

Briefing the GNA on the incident at Assin-Fosu on Monday, Mr Alfred Otoo, one of the victims, said there was nobody at home when the incident happened at around 1520 hrs.

He explained that there was power outage in the town that day and that the fire reportedly started immediately after power had been restored and it was therefore suspected that some of the occupants on the floor must have left their electrical gadgets on.

He said personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in Fosu tried in vain to put out the fire and had to call for assistance from their counterparts in Cape Coast but the entire floor had completely been burnt by the time the team arrived.

Other people living within the vicinity the GNA spoke to, expressed anger that the local personnel of the Fire Service had been unable to put out the fire, because they were “too old”.

When contacted, the Assistant Divisional Officer of the GNFS at Fosu, Mr Tony Abraham, explained that a crew of firemen was dispatched immediately a distress call about the fire was received, but the water in the fire tender was not enough to put out the fire.

He also explained that the township had no fire hydrant so water has to be fetched into the fire tender from a stream in the next village, a distance of about 13 kilometres and that investigations are underway to establish the exact cause of the fire.

ASP Seth Doe, the Assin Fosu divisional crime officer said his office is yet to receive a report from Fire Service for it to carry out investigations into the incident.

Ghana Forestry Commission Gets very expensive Fire Tenders

Editor: These must be the most advanced water tenders in the world at this price! figure you can get a real nice brand new water tender for wildland use for around $100,000 here in California so maybe 1.5 millon dollars, for the dozen. Where did the rest of the money go? Can Anyone send in a photo of these beauties?

Forestry Commission Gets Fire Tenders | Ghana Official Portal:

Forestry Commission Gets Fire Tenders

The Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, yesterday in Accra, commissioned 12 Fire Tenders and Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment.

The equipment, which were estimated at eight million Euros, were donated to the Forestry Commission by the Netherlands Government to ensure the management of wildfire in the country.

Commissioning the equipment, Mrs Obeng-Dapaah, commended the Government of Netherlands for their continued support to Ghana, saying that the equipment will be put to good use to ensure significant reduction in wildfires, improve livelihood and the global environment.

She observed that, since 2002, Government has put measures in place to manage wildfire in Ghana with support estimated at about twelve million Euros from the Kingdom of Netherlands to curb wildfire in the country.

According to the Minister, the first and only comprehensive National Fire Policy in Ghana, launched in February 2007 with support from the Netherlands government will go a long way to help the country.

The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Lidi Remmelzwaal, who made the donation on behalf of the Government of Netherlands said the wildfire management project is aimed at rehabilitating forests through wildfire prevention and control.

She said the Wildlife Management Project (WFMP) which was set up in 2002 is part of a sector-wide approach in order to strengthen the forestry sector.

Source: http://www.ghana.gov.gh/ghana/forestry_commission_fire_tenders.jsp