The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has warned the public, particularly those who are quick to assault personnel arriving late at fire scenes.

This caution stems from an incident where the Asamankese Fire Station encountered resistance from residents of Apraman, a farming community near Kade, upon their arrival at a fire scene.

Citinewsroom.com reports that the Asamankese firefighters, who were supposed to aid their colleagues from Kade fire station, made a distress call for help as their tender was already dispatched.

The Asamankese personnel arrived at their destination in a private vehicle because their tender developed a fault at Topreman, 2km away from Apraman, which infuriated the residents, resulting in an assault on the firefighters by the residents.

The situation was controlled by the timely intervention of ASP Ernest Danso from the Ghana Police Service, which allowed the firefighters to join forces with the infuriated locals to contain the fire with buckets of water.

Unfortunately, four residential units, each with nine bedrooms, lost their contents in the fire. However, there were no casualties reported.

The Eastern Regional Fire Service Public Relations Officer, D03 Ignatius Baidoo, in an interview, urged the public to desist from attacking firefighters, stressing that they put their lives at risk to save lives and protect the properties of fire victims.

He said, “The Kade Fire Station received a distressed call on February 8 due to a fire outbreak. Because the tender was out of commission, having broken down, it couldn’t respond to the fire scene. So a call was made to the Asamankese Fire Station. The distance from Kade to Asamankese is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes by car. However, the tender encountered a problem on its way. They had to take a private car to the scene. Our men were heckled, insulted, and even one of them was pushed down.”

“My appeal to the public is that when firefighters arrive at the scene, and if you perceive a delay due to misinformation or the fire service not receiving timely information, please allow them to assess the situation. Don’t insult us because we put our lives on the line to reach your properties and salvage the situation. We will continue to serve, and we will not relent in our efforts,” D03 Ignatius Kwamina Baidoo said,” D03 Baidoo added.

RAD/OGB

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