The Acting Central Acting Regional Fire Officer, Divisional Office I (DOI) Fanny Simpson, has cautioned fire personnel in the Region to desist from using the name of the Service for personal gains.

She said being disciplined in all their endeavours was the only way they could promote the Service and uplift its image towards achieving its objectives of ensuring a fire free society.

DOI Simpson who was speaking at a Fire Safety seminar, organised for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Fire, Officers (MMDFOs) and their Safety Officers in the Central Region in Cape Coast, said they should not undertake other activities that were not within their mandate.

The seminar was to offer the Officers the necessary fire safety advice and skills to equip them to properly monitor, direct and evaluate fire safety activities in their respective districts to reduce the incidence of outbreaks.

It was also to resource the officers to be able to give proper technical advice to institutions and individuals to improve upon fire safety measures in the Region to, particularly, reduce bush fires.

DOI Simpson said promotion in the Service was based on examination and competence and emphasised the need for the officers to upgrade themselves in their various fields to enhance their output.

She urged the officers to be innovative and keep abreast with scientific fire safety technologies despite their logistical and resource challenges.

"The era of firefighting is over and we have to look for more effective ways to prevent fires from occurring to preserve lives and property.” she said.

Regional Fire Safety Education Coordinator, Division Officer II (DOII), Samuel Willis Golightly, took the officers through fire safety measures such as how to identify fire hazards, reduce risks of fire outbreaks in a building and to use appropriate fire safety installations.

He also took them through the process of acquiring fire certificates and tasked the officers to ensure that premises that were seeking fire certificates satisfied the entire requirement before issuing out them out to them.

Some participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) expressed their appreciation to the Regional Command for the seminar and expressed the hope that more of such workshops would be organised to help boost their output.