4 firemen sustain injuries while dousing inferno; 2 in critical condition

Four firefighters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) have sustained severe injuries, with two in critical condition after a beam of a storey building collapsed on them while extinguishing an inferno at West Legon.

The fire incident occurred in the afternoon of Wednesday, January 24, damaging offices on the first floor of the dilapidated storey building.

Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Assistant Divisional Officer Alex King Nartey, in an interview, said, “ Our team at Legon responded to the fire, and upon arriving at the fireground, they realized that the fire was ablaze, so they had to call for reinforcement from Abelemkpe and Madina to augment their efforts. However, due to the fact that buildings, when subject to fires, tend to lose some structural integrity, the beam broke, collapsing on the firefighters, and they fell into the fire with the beam lying on them. Consequently, four of them sustained injuries of various degrees, while two are in critical condition, receiving medical attention”.

He attributed the fire incident to a commercial fire outbreak.

Meanwhile, the GNFS has revealed that fire cases are reducing nationwide.

The Chief Fire Officer (CFO) of the GNFS, Julius Kuunuor, revealed that fire outbreaks declined by 4.92 per cent for the first eleven months of 2023 as the service recorded 5,256 fire outbreaks as compared to 5,530 recorded in the same period in 2022.

He noted that this was due to the extensive public fire safety education nationwide.

He said the service undertook 17,877 fire safety education in public and private institutions and places such as markets, churches, mosques, and schools in various languages nationwide.

“Through the timely intervention of the Service, property worth millions of cedis were salvaged,” he stated.

CFO Kuunuor assured management would not relent in its effort to find solutions to the challenges that may hamper effective and efficient performance in discharging their duties.