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The problem of insufficient supply of resources to the Ghana National Fire Service is becoming more alarming especially in the midst of the prevailing threats of terrorism on Ghana.
The GNFS is an emergency response agency which is often the point of call in attempts to contain fire and reduce fire-related accidents and deaths among other occurrences.
The Service was listed among agencies to be contacted when actions of individuals or groups become suspicious or unusual and have the potential of breaching public peace and security.
It follows the notice both the National Security and the Ministry of Interior have both issued concerning the looming terror attack on the country.
Leaders of religious organizations and managers of event centres and other public places were in effect advised to put precautionary measures in place to check the activities of these terrorists.
The government also indicated its resolve to forestall attacks from the militants whose targets are countries endowed with natural resources and have laxed laws among other things that are of convenience to the latter.
However, in the midst of the public sensitization and the coordination of intelligence from the various agencies, it has emerged that that equipment to help the fire service discharge their mandates in a bid to protect the citizenry is outdated.
“The consoles we are using right now does not indicate to us the actual number calling into the system” the Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Justice Timothy Affum told Kofi Adoma Nwanwani, host of the Anopa Bofoↄ morning show on Angel FM which was simulcasted on Angel TV.
This became a concern particularly due to their inability to trace callers who may be in emergency situations to attend to their needs, especially at a time when the country is on high security alert.
“What we do is that we receive calls and to relay them to the emergencies. What we have now is what we have to work with,” he lamented, adding that the number of consoles available to them are five–three in the Greater Accra Region, the rest in the Ashanti Region.
Meanwhile the GNFS has complained about the serial prank calls received on daily basis which jam up the system, denying access to persons who are in dire need of their services.
According to Mr. Timothy Affum, prank calls received on the daily basis stands between 22,000 and 24,000 “so when you call, you are added to the queue. If you are lucky and we answer yours then you have made it through”.
“We are able to pick five calls at a time. With the five calls, if your drops, that means that we cannot attend to you. That is why we have been saying that the prank calls that people have been engaging in disturb us because the one who may be needing the attention at the time may not have it because someone else is on the line.”
Yet the agency, according to the PRO, is unable to trace these numbers to fish out the culprits and bring them to book.
