Statistics available at the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has revealed that domestic and residential cases of fire outbreak continue to dominate in the Upper East Region.

In an interview, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO), Jerry Harding-Bruce, the Regional Commander of the GNFS, said out of the 129 fire cases recorded in the Region within the first quarter of 2021, domestic fires alone were 85.

He said Bawku Municipal had the highest number of fire cases of 37 with 32 being domestic cases, which was closely followed by Bolgatanga and Kassena-Nankana Municipals with 28 and 16 cases, out of which 13 and seven were domestic cases respectively.

Similarly, at the end of 2020, out of the 324 fire cases recorded across the 15 Municipal and Districts in the Region, domestic fires were 161 with the month of December alone recording 36 cases.

The Regional Commander attributed the steady rise in the number of domestic fire cases in the Region largely to electrical faults, use of faulty electric appliances, neglect and unstable power supply.

ACFO Harding-Bruce noted that members of the public often delayed in alerting the GNFS whenever there was fire outbreak and that usually caused serious damage to properties and lives.

“Public response to education programmes is not encouraging, people delay before calling the fire service when there is fire outbreak, fire in a minute is not the same as fire in five minutes, there is no charge in engaging the services of fire service,” he said.

Mr Harding-Bruce explained that the Regional Fire Command and the district offices would intensify their simulation exercises at vantage areas to further drum home the need to observe fire safety measures.

He said public education and demonstration of safety measures would be a top priority to ensure that there was compliance with fire safety regulations and protocols.

The Regional Commander noted that his outfit in collaboration with the Energy Commission was engaging in strict adherence to their safety regulations as spelt out in the Energy Commission manuals and its Legislative Instrument.

He advised residents of the Region to engage qualified persons to wire their houses and facilities, so as to contribute to reducing fire outbreaks, safeguard lives and properties and maintain security.