The only fire tender vehicle serving the Eastern Regional capital Koforidua and its environs has not been functional for the past two years owing to lack of funds to repair the broken-down vehicle.
According to the office, all effort made by management of the branch to secure Ghc20,000 for repairs and servicing of the broken down vehicle have proven futile.
New Juaben Municipal Fire Officer, Divisional Officer (DO III) Ayitey Brown Oquaye, said the situation has disabled the fire service from responding swiftly to distress calls from citizens in the regional capital and thus, increases the vulnerability of sensitive institutions such as banks, security installations, Ministries, and the like.
He said, this disturbing situation has compelled management of the Koforidua Fire Station to improvise with an old rickety fire tender which more often than not, malfunctions.
He noted that the Koforidua Fire station “is one of the sensitive fire stations looking at the proximity and where it is sited.
“This station fights 15 to 30 fire incidents a month. If you look at the proximity to another fire station it is a bit far. When you take it from here to Nkurakan direction, the nearest fire station is Assesewa, when you take it this way [south], the nearest fire station is Akuapem -Mampong, and when you take this way [east]too, is Suhum. So we must understand the fact that the setting of the station is very critical.”
On Tuesday morning, fire razed down eight shops in Koforidua. The scene of the incident was about 5 minutes’ drive from the Koforidua Fire station however, firefighters from the station could not respond quickly due to unavailability of fire tender. It took the intervention of a fire tender from the Regional Office which arrived some 40 minutes into the incident.
By that time, the blaze had already consumed properties worth millions of cedis before being doused by the fire service personnel.
Owners of the affected shops accused the Fire Service of responding very late to their distress calls considering the proximity of the scene to their office.
However, DO III Ayitey Brown Oquaye said even though the fire station is constraint logistically, the call came late and they had to fall on the Regional Headquarters for intervention.
“When we went to the scene, the information we picked there implied that the fire started earlier enough, but their quest was to extinguish it themselves and all that resulted in the delay. As we got the call, we were very prompt; unfortunately, the issue had to do with our fire tender here. We had to fall on the Regional Headquarters for assistance.”
The Municipal Fire Officer appealed to corporate institutions in Koforidua to support the station to complement government’s effort to enable it work effectively to save lives and properties.
“We will be very grateful if cooperate bodies, institutions, banks reorganizes our service and come to our aid.”
In recent times, there has been a number of fire outbreaks reported in various public places across the country. The Ghana National Fire Service has continuously advised that extra caution is exercised during this festive season to avoid loss of life and property to fire.
