Northern Region loses GH¢60m to bushfires
More than GH¢60 million was lost through bushfires in the Northern Region in 2015, the Director of Agriculture at the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Mr Duut Nelson, has said.
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He said the loss was due to the destruction of farms and property.
He, therefore, called on the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to strictly enforce the laws on bushfire to curb its incidence in the country.
Launch
Mr Nelson was speaking at the Northern Regional launch of the 2016/2017 National Bushfire Prevention Campaign and the Regional Home Fire Safety Certification Project in Tamale.
The launch was on the theme: “Protecting the environment and ensuring fire safety at homes”.
Mr Nelson expressed worry that, while bushfire laws existed, their enforcement had been low, leading to many people negligently causing fires.
He said the incidence of bushfires had become very rampant in the savannah ecological zone, destroying many farms and property each year.
Safety
For his part, the National Chief Fire Officer, Mr Albert Brown Gaisie, urged the public to complement the effort of fire officers by embarking on fire safety measures in their homes.
He said fire prevention was a collective responsibility, adding: “It is only through the involvement of all stakeholders that this well-thought out project will succeed and benefit the good people of the Northern Region and Ghana at large.”
He said domestic fires continued to top fire incidents recorded in the country, adding that the home fire safety certification project would help mitigate home fires and their attendant loss of lives and property.
Mr Gaisie also expressed worry over the practice of building high fence walls around houses without creating enough exits.
He said many people had been trapped and died in their homes during fire outbreaks due to the lack of enough exiting points.
He, therefore, advised house owners to provide enough exits in their homes so that in the event of a fire outbreak, they could escape easily.