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Division Officer (DO) III Charles Kumi Amponsah, District Fire Officer for Jaman South, has said the involvement of the community was critical to ensure smooth firefighting operations.

He said there were many communities where the construction and siting of buildings impeded the access to roads, which fire fighters had to travel to get to the scene of fire outbreaks.

DO III Amponsah was speaking to the Ghana News Agency, on Tuesday, at Japekrom in the Jaman South District of Brong-Ahafo Region, after his outfit had struggled through a virtually impassable area at Krupiase New Site, a suburb of Drobo, the District Capital, to successfully extinguish a fire.

The fire was burning a three-bedroom house at about 0330 hours on that day.

He stated had the road been accessible enough, his men would have taken a maximum of three minutes from Japekrom to get to the scene to prevent the extent of damage that was caused to the building.

However, he said, it took the assistance of neighbours to clear the narrow road of trees and stones before the fire tender could reach the area.

DO III Amponsah said the cost of damage could not be quantified as investigation to ascertain the cause was yet to start, but it could run into thousands of cedis, he added.