Domestic fires top incidents for decade — GNFS

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is working on a new regulatory regime that will make it mandatory for private residential accommodation owners to acquire a fire safety permit before they put up buildings.

The permit regime will ensure that residential accommodation owners incorporate fire safety mechanisms into the structure to make them safer for habitation.

The move is meant to reduce the rising incidence of domestic fires in the country. The current fire permit regime is limited to commercial property.

The Director of Public Relations of the GNFS, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Grade One (ACFO 1), Timothy Osafo- Affum, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the GNFS had started engagement with key stakeholders and experts on the initiative.

“The processes have started; we are in the first phase where we are doing consultation of key stakeholders, including experts, and very soon, we will roll it out. It may not be this year, but I can assure you that within the next two years, we will have it rolled out,” he said.

Domestic fires alarming 

The move by the GNFS comes in the wake of the current situation where domestic fires are said to lead in all reported incidents in the last 10 years, a trend analysis of fire statistics has revealed.

Out of the 59,933 fire outbreaks reported over 10 years, between 2013 and 2022, 23,394 were domestic fires, representing 39 per cent of the entire figure.

Comparatively, bushfires accounted for 8,948 of the outbreaks, representing 14.9 per cent, while commercial and vehicular fires were 7,839 (13.1 per cent) and 7,065 (11.8 per cent) respectively.

Additionally, there were 6,526 (10.9 per cent) fire outbreaks resulting from electrical faults, with institutional and industrial fires recording 1,461 (2.4 per cent) and 1,259 (2.1 per cent) in that order.

All other causes of fire outbreaks put together were 3,441, accounting for 5.7 per cent of the total fire incidents.

The persistent increase in domestic fires was partly because the current fire regulations on permits for the construction of private or residential accommodation were not watertight on adherence to fire safety protocols, the GNFS PRO said.

Mr Osafo-Affum explained that domestic fires had been the leading cause of fire outbreaks in the country almost every year because of human activities.

“Once we have people inhabiting homes, we should naturally expect that fires will occur. But this is fuelled by other factors ranging from substandard building materials and negligence on the part of people,” he said.

However, he added, the scale of domestic fire incidents in the country was unacceptably high.

“The statistics only show official figures as have been reported to the GNFS, but there are many fire outbreaks that are not recorded because they have not been reported to us,” he said.

Mr Osafo-Affum indicated that although the GNFS had carried out fire safety education and sensitisation campaigns over the years, it appeared that many people were adamant to change.

The senior fire officer observed that almost 70 per cent of the fire incidents that occurred in the country were preventable, if only people adhered to fire safety protocol.