Fifty fire volunteers trained by the Mfantseman District Office of the Ghana National Fire Service in collaboration with the Community-Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) and the Mfantseman District Assembly have completed a training programme at Ekumfi Ebuakwa. Mr Desmond Duametu, Central Regional Co-ordinator of CBRDP, World Bank Poverty Intervention, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment, said the project had decided to support the training of the volunteers to enable them to protect the banks of the Narkwa-Ochie River. The River serves the Baifikrom Water head of the Ghana Water Company. Mr Duametu said the project was also assisting the Assembly to establish tree nurseries to provide seedlings for the volunteers and people interested in woodlot cultivation. He said River Narkwa-Ochie’s banks protection project was being implemented in Mfantseman, Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam and Asikuma-Odonen-Brakwa districts. Mr Robert Quainoo-Arthur, Mfantseman District Chief Executive (DCE), appealed to the Ghana National Fire Service to form fire clubs in Junior High Schools and Senior High Schools to enhance education on fire prevention. The DCE commended CBRDP and GNFS for the timing of the training since the severe Harmattan weather called for intensive education on bush and domestic fires. Mr George Kuntu Blankson, Member of Parliament for Mfantseman East commended the volunteers for offering themselves for the programme and assured them of his assistance anytime the need arose. Mr Samuel Oliver Adabo, District Fire Commander, urged communities not to see fire prevention and fighting as the responsibility of only the fire volunteers. Mr Alex Martel Hughes, Central Regional Fire Commander, who reviewed the parade, expressed concern about the destruction of the nation's vegetation cover through bush burning and indiscriminate felling of trees. He cautioned that if care was not taken the nation would be importing wood for domestic use in not too distant a future. Mr Hughes called for the protection of animals from indiscriminate poaching since they also had a right to survival. Nana Okumpah VII of Ekumfi Twaa and Nana Yamoakwa VI of Ekumfi Ebrakwa who jointly chaired the function called on traditional rulers to show interest in the activities of fire volunteers to enhance their sustainability. Source: GNA