Investigations into Central Medical Stores fire... GNFS submitted report in May 2015
The Chief Fire Officer, Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, has debunked claims that his outfit has covered up and failed to make public details of the investigative report on the fire that gutted the Central Medical Stores (CMS) in Tema in January 2015.
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He stated that the final report from the investigation was presented to the government on May 18, 2015 and, therefore, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) could not be blamed for the public lacking knowledge of the details of the report.
Medical Stores fire report
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Dr Gaisie, who spoke on a wide range of issues, said such a report was a classified security document, for which reason it was not in the national interest to make the details public.
He asked those making claims that he had refused to make the report public to endeavour to seek information from his outfit before making false claims against him.
Ghana lost its main medicines and medical supplies depot on January 13, 2015, but the government is yet to prosecute those found culpable following investigations into the fire that razed the Tema CMS.
More than GH¢100 million worth of drugs were destroyed in the inferno which got the American and the British governments, which contributed significantly to the supplies, to demand answers.
Vehicular fires
Touching on the spate of vehicular fires, Dr Gaisie said the steady rise in vehicular fires in the country had stirred concerns among the top brass of the GNFS with 256 of such cases recorded in the first quarter of this year.
Many of the causes, he pointed out, were human error in terms of the non-availability of fire extinguishers in vehicles, the installation of fake and unprescribed parts in cars, among other reasons.
Throwing more light on the issue, he stated that those fires could have been avoided if vehicle owners had exercised more circumspection in ensuring their vehicles were fitted with the prescribed parts.
Causes of fire
Citing a plethora of instances to back his claim, he spoke about the situation where fuel tanks were improvised and installed in vehicles without the required specification, with some vehicles connected with illegal hoses to gas and fuel tanks without recourse to prescribed specifications.
Dr Gaisie stated that the major cause of the fires was the absence of fire extinguishers in vehicles and that controlling the fire at the incipient stage was the best thing.
The GNFS boss added that some vehicles had broken fuel pipes, resulting in persistent fuel and gas spillage that came into contact with the exhaust systems and fire ignited in the process due to the generation of heat.
He further spoke about the wrong installation of brake disks which often caused friction and in the process caught fire and that some vehicles had broken installations which exposed dangerous cables/wires.
Appeal to vehicle owners
Dr Gaisie, who appealed to vehicle owners to be mindful of those defects, also identified lose battery contacts that often had the tendency to cause sparks of fire.
To prevent such situations, he implored owners of vehicles to always endeavour to seek the services of professional and competent mechanics to work on their cars.
“I am pleading with Ghanaians not to give their cars to just anybody to work on them but rather look out for mechanics to render them professional service,” Dr Gaisie said.
Prescribing measures to control the incidents of vehicular-associated fires in Ghana, he intimated that the GNFS would soon organise a fire safety programme for qualified mechanics to adopt a professional approach to duties.
The chief fire officer underscored the need for persons in the industrial sector to always endeavour to solicit advice from the Fire Service in the discharge of liquid fuel to help abate the spate of vehicular and industrial fires.
Dr Gaisie stressed that appropriate fire safety precautions should be ensured at all times in the discharge of liquid waste.
Among other pieces of advice for the public, he particularly asked vehicle owners to regularly read the temperature levels of their engines and also avoid opening their bonnets suddenly should they detect an engine overheat.
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