The Central Regional Commander of the Ghana National Fire Service, John Amartey, has called on the government to procure new fire engines for the region, as most of the ones currently in use are faulty.
He says the situation has resulted in a high cost of maintenance for the Service.
According to the Regional Fire Commander, as of the end of the first quarter of 2021, the Regional Fire Service carried out 38 rescue and evacuation operations resulting from road traffic collisions along the Winneba-Apam stretch of the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.
Speaking to Citi News, John Amartey called for retooling of the Service with new fire tenders, as well as road traffic extrication and collision equipment, to improve evacuation and rescue operations.
“Most of our fire tenders are weak and, more often than not, when we use them, they break down and the cost of maintenance, therefore, becomes very high for us. In light of this, we’ll appeal to our higher authorities and, for that matter, the government to procure for us, new fire engines, that will make our jobs very easy and efficient for us.”
He added that retooling the Service in the region is crucial, especially as their old equipment fails them in a lot of serious scenarios.
“Also, we need retooling with new road traffic extrication equipment. They have been with us for a long time now and sometimes when we are in the process of rescuing [people], they fail us and then we have to improvise to get our operations done. We will also be very happy if we are retooled with new road traffic collision equipment. Up to the end of the first quarter, we have done 38 rescuing and evacuation operations, in respect of road traffic,” he added