Five persons have died from fire outbreaks in the month of March 2023, in the Ashanti region, though the month is yet to come to an end.

So far, the region has recorded 60 fire outbreaks in the month of March.

Speaking at the 6th International Safety Conference and Awards organised by the Occupational Safety and Health Association in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) District Fire Commander, DOIII Simon Ben Boadu, revealed that the region recorded 178 fire outbreaks in January 2023.

“We had 178 fire outbreaks in the month of January 2023 and out of this, 178, we had 71 as domestic fires, 1 as industrial fires, 66 from bush fires, 20 as commercial fires, 10 electrical fires, 8 institutional fires, 2 from refuse dump fires,” he said.

Also, “in the month of February, we had 131. Out of this 131, 38 came out as domestic fires, 4 as industrial fires, 40 from bush fires, 18 commercial fires, 9 as electrical fires, 2 as institutional fires and 11 as vehicular fires.”

DOIII Boadu indicated that: “We have not ended March so as at now we have 60 outbreaks out of these statistics we’ve recorded 5 deaths.

“These deaths were attributed to these occupants in the various homes who do not know how to react to fires when they occur.”

According to DOIII Boadu, his outfit has, therefore, intensified its education on the handling of fire outbreaks.

“Hence, the Ghana National Fires Service has intensified its public education by going around to organise basic firefighting and rescue tips,” DOIII Boadu added.