GOVT TO EQUIP FIRE SERVICE (Centre Spread)

May 7 2010
Story: Mary Mensah

THE Government has sourced funds to provide the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) with fire appliances and equipment to adequately equip all existing fire stations and new ones to be opened.
The loan facility from the Exim Banks of India and America will be used to provide the GNFS with 75 fire tenders, five foam tenders and over 100 fire appliances, including hydraulic platforms.
Many personnel of the service will also be trained within and outside the country as part of the package from the two facilities.
The Chairman of the Fire Service Council and Member of Parliament for Abokobi-Madina Constituency, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, who announced this at the graduation of the Cadet Course VII in Accra last Friday, said arrangements were also being made by the government to source more funds from other countries in order to support the GNFS with new fire equipment, ambulances and training of personnel in Oil and Gas fires.
He said the Fire Service Council, in collaboration with the management of the service, was finalising the review of the service conditions of the GNFS and very soon the final document would be approved to improve the lives of all fire personnel in the country.
Alhaji Sorogho asserted that the Fire Service Council was also following up on a proposal to the Ministry of the Interior for personnel of the service to go on peacekeeping missions.
He expressed the hope that when the proposal was approved, as many fire personnel as possible would have the opportunity to go on peacekeeping missions like their counterparts in the other security services.
He announced that the World Rescue Organisation and the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation had rated the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) as the first in the area of extrication in the sub-region and second to South Africa in the whole of Africa.
The Member of Parliament said to this end, the service had been invited by the two organisations to participate in the World Extrication Challenge scheduled for Ireland in September, this year.
He said as part of management‘s efforts to ensure higher professional development of personnel, the graduates were put on eight-week practical attachment and taken through routine duties in the various departments of the service.
Alhaji Sorogho, therefore, congratulated the 210 graduates for successfully going through a hectic three-month period of training. He also commended the Commandant and staff of the Fire Academy and Training School for their hard work and commitment.
The Chief Fire Officer, Mr William Brown-Acquaye, said the Fire Academy and Training School was established in 1957 at the old Fire Service headquarters near the Lighthouse at James Town in Accra and was moved to its current location, which used to be the depot for Mobil Oil Ghana Limited, in 1989.
He said the school offered five levels of training - recruit courses, refresher courses, industrial training, cadet courses and career courses.
Mr Brown-Acquaye said the 210 officer cadets who passed out as station officers and group officers had served for periods ranging from 15 to 20 years and that they commenced training on February 7, 2010. The batch is made up of 145 men and 65 women.
Samuel Kofi Sagoe emerged the overall best officer cadet.