Personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) must work as a team to achieve the mandate of the service, Mr Kwame Ayimadu-Antwi, Chairman of the Fire Service Council, has admonished.
“I expect you to continue to work together as a team, it is my firm belief that with unity of purpose between the personnel there would be success,” he added.
He gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Emmanuel Agyei Anhwere, a Council Member, at the closing ceremony of a maiden fire conference in Accra yesterday on the theme “Enhancing effective fire management for national development”.
The three-day conference, organised by the GNFS, assembled stakeholders to deliberate on fire issues to make the Service more effective in the delivery of its mandate to the public.
In attendance were members of the fire management board, district, regional fire commanders, members of the fire service council, representatives from sister security agencies and stakeholders of the GNFS, among others.
He commended the management of the Fire Service for its effort to improve service delivery to the public.
Mr Ayimadu-Antwi expressed gratitude to personnel of the Service for their dedication to duty to ensure that lives and properties were saved.
The Chief Fire Officer, Mr Julius Kuunour, urged personnel to ensure that fire outbreaks in the country were reduced to protect both resource and the economy.
“You are all doing very well for now because from January we recorded 1,090 fires, now we have 300 fires so we want to come down not to single digit but to zero so take note,” he added.
He said the GNFS would soon open fire service shops in each region for the sale of fire service souvenirs, and accouterments to prevent its abuse, adding that the producers and suppliers of such fire service accouterments would be registered and licensed to enable them operate nationwide.
“The operations of these shops will be outsourced to private entities but shall be regulated by the service, that is those mandated by the service to sell such product will be under strict supervisions to sell to officers only,” he added.
BY ANITA NYARKO- YIRENKYI
