Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Central Regional Minister, has directed the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the Region to allocate funds for the management and fighting of fire when planning their annual budgets.

This he said would aid Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to acquire basic modern logistics and equipment to put the service on a higher alert to be able to manage both domestic, and other sophisticated industrial fires that might occur in the Region.

Mr. Quansah said this during the end of the 9th annual conference of Directors and Regional Fire Officers of GNFS in Cape Coast at the weekend.

The two-day conference which was on the theme:”Heightening the role of the Ghana National Fire Service in national development,” offered the high ranking officers of the GNFS the opportunity to evaluate the performance of the service and how to improve upon it.

He explained that the directive is to compel the assemblies to solicit funds to support the GNFS to supplement Central Government allocations to it to improve upon performance.

In this regard, he asked district fire commanders to liaise with the MMDCEs and discussed their challenges to ensure a successful actualisation of the directive.

The Regional Minister said ensuring public safety must not be the sole responsibility of the fire service and urged the citizenry to see themselves as stakeholders and collaborate with the GNFS to ensure absolute public safety in the country.

Mr Quansah commended GNFS for the immense role in disaster management as well as the active participation in the National Sanitation Day Exercise across the country since its inception.

Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, Chief Fire Officer said it is time for the service to have a paradigm shift from reactive to more preventive measures so far as fighting fires is concerned.

He enumerated on a number of issues agreed on by the directors some of which include a change in the strategic directional policies to be able to respond to the emerging trends of undesirable disasters.

He explained that the Service was creating avenues for the lower ranks to upgrade themselves and have the technical capacity building to be able to work effectively and efficiently.

Dr Gaisie indicated that the service is committed to ensure that fire cadets are established in all senior high schools for students to develop the interest in fire safety and respond to any fire outbreak that occurred in their schools.

He urged the public to desist from blatant disregard for basic fire safety rules, overloading of electrical sockets, improper and careless use of LPG Gas, poor handling of hydrocarbons and flammable liquids among others which are the major causes of fire outbreaks.