Koforidua, June 8, GNA - Only 29 out of more than 3,000 public buildings in the Eastern Region have acquired fire certificates and this is a breach of the fire precautionary law. Parliament enacted the law in 2003 and launched it in the Eastern Region in August 2005 but since then organisations have not complied with the law.

The law binds institutions such as cinema houses, hotels, churches, hospitals, ministries, departments and agencies to have fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and other fire equipment on their premises.

It is a preventive measure meant to rein-in fire outbreaks and curb their financial cost on the national economy but unfortunately very few organisations are complying with it. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer in Charge of the Eastern Region, Mr Solomon Mensah, said in a speech read on his behalf at the close of a two-day workshop for fire safety officers in the Eastern Region that an inter-security committee had been formed to implement the law to the letter.

He appealed to his officers to educate officials to yield to the requirements of the law "before they are hauled before the relevant adjudicating authorities."

Mr George Frimpong, Divisional Officer Grade III, said many Ghanaians exhibited little or no knowledge about fire prevention and that was contributing to fire outbreaks. He said the service needed to be properly equipped to enable it to discharge its services efficiently.