Over 270 fire outbreaks recorded during lockdown – Fire Service
A total of 272 fire outbreaks were recorded across the country during the coronavirus lockdown, which lasted three weeks.
This was revealed by the PRO of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Ellis Robinson Okoe.
According to him, gas explosions and electrical faults are the major causes of the inferno which resulted in the loss of lives and properties.
“We have recorded 272 fires within that period. It’s between the beginning of the lockdown and up to the end of the lockdown,” he told Accra-based Starr FM.
Mr Okoe also noted that the country witnessed this high number of fire outbreaks due to what he described as the negligence and carelessness of the people.
“It is our attitude towards these two things (gas and electricity) that have caused this. It is either carelessness or negligence that have resulted in these fire outbreaks through electricity or gas explosions,” he said.
He, however, cautioned the public against going close to naked fire immediately after applying hand sanitizers. He explained that the over 70 percent alcohol content in hand sanitizers makes it highly flammable, which means it could easily catch fire.
“Don’t go near fire immediately you apply hand sanitizer because your hands can catch fire when you do that,” he cautioned.
During the period of the lockdown in Accra, over 800 hundred wooden structures which served as residences for squatters at Old Fadama were razed by fire on April 7, 2020.
The fire, according to eyewitnesses, started at about 2 a.m.
The situation left thousands of slum dwellers in the area homeless. The inferno gutted several properties running into thousands of Ghana cedis.
Fire destroys over 800 structures at Old Fadama, leaves thousands homeless
The fire spread quickly to other parts of the area as most of the structures in the area were wooden.
It later emerged that the fire outbreak at Old Fadama in Accra was allegedly caused by an angry wife over her husband’s infidelity.
1,000 homeless as ‘angry wife sets ablaze Old Fadama over cheating husband’
President Akufo-Addo placed some parts of the country under a three-week partial lockdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
The areas which were affected by the lockdown included Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi. At the time, these areas had been identified as the hotspot for COVID-19, which has so far claimed 16 lives and infected over 1,600 others. 188 others have recovered.