Fire Service Issues Red Alert ...Stop Re-Fueling Generators When Hot

The Chief Fire Officer, Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, has warned that re-fueling generators while they are hot during the harmattan season could cause massive explosions and instant death.

“In our domestic life those who will be cooking, those who use oven, generally electricals, energy, they need to be very careful because with power interruption, we need to be careful about the way we use electricity.

“Those who are going to use generators, we don't have to re-fuel them when they are already hot; before you re-fuel a generator, you must make sure that it cools down to the lowest temperature; people have the tendency of, in the midst of heat, re-fueling generators and that causes explosions.” Dr Gaisie warned in an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE yesterday.

Responding to questions about the preparedness of the service ahead of the Christmas festivities, the Fire Chief disclosed that the service has deployed well trained taskforce to visit markets, offices, homes and all areas that can be engulfed by fire to sensitize the people to harmattan and related fires ahead of the Christmas festivities.  

According to him, the harmattan season is a dangerous period and can be a recipe for disaster if measures are not put in place to forestall any fire outbreak.

“The taskforce will be patrolling to identify any naked flame and any source of smoke where combustibles are heaped and somebody is setting fire. They will serve as rapid intervention should there be any fire outbreak.”

He said the taskforce has already commenced work and urged Ghanaians to collaborate with them to ensure a fire-free Christmas.

Dr Gaisie while cautioning Ghanaians said “Every year, we encounter harmattan, so it has always been our policy to develop contingency to accommodate such climatic problems that come within the scope of our duties.

“One finds it difficult to predict the level of humidity since that is quite natural, but once it is the harmattan, we are bound to develop contingencies towards it, especially, with its attendant bush fires and other sources of fires.”

He stressed that during the harmattan season the weather gets very dry, electrical cables and insulations get dried up and so “it is always a recipe for fires because with the slightest introduction of naked flame, of course you may get fires.”

He urged Ghanaians to stop calling the service when there is no fire; “that prevents us from responding to the real situations.”

In a related development the Fire Service promoted over 1,500 officers within one year. This, the paper gathers, has shored up morale within the service, particularly, in a year when no major fire outbreak occurred in the country due to intensive fire education under the new administration.

The promotions covered personnel who were due for promotion but were denied the opportunity and had to drag the service to court.