Kumasi, Aug 9, GNA - The Ashanti Regional headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) recorded 35 false alarms during the first half of the year as against 25 the previous year.

Mr Franklin Masiku, the Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GNFS, said false alarms were affecting their budget because the service spent money to fuel their vehicles to respond to such calls. Mr Masiku told the GNA in an interview that the office had acquired a caller identification machine that would enable them to record numbers of all such callers for action to be taken against them. He said since 2003, the GNFS in the region had issued fire certificates to 111 organisations after they had had been screened. Mr Masiku said the service would soon make it mandatory for all organizations to acquire fire certificates and all organizations would be made to provide fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and means of escape as well as other sources of water to enhance prompt fire fighting.

He said 22 basic schools in the Kumasi metropolis have been educated on fire prevention and commended head teachers of the schools for their support.

Mr Masiku appealed to non-governmental organizations and philanthropists to assist the GNFS to acquire visual aids to enable them educate the populace better on how to prevent fire and how to control it when it occurs.