Agona Swedru, July 24, GNA - Four Districts in the Central Region have been without fire tenders for the past five due to mechanical fault.

They are Agona, Awutu-Effutu-Senya, Gomoa and Ajumako. Investigations by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reveal that funds have not been released for the repairs while the District Assemblies were not ready to assist since fire stations received their budget directly from the Ministry of the Interior in Accra.

The investigations showed that the Agona Fire Station needed 18.5 million cedis to purchase a clutch while the other districts needed various sums for the repair of fire tenders.

Mr Ben Mensah, District Chief Executive (DCE), in a reaction to the inability of the Fire Service to fight an outbreak said on a Swedru FM Radio station that the Assembly did not have funds to repair the fire tender since the Fire Service was not a decentralised department. Mr Jude Sam Brew, District Fire Officer, told the GNA that during the outbreak about two weeks ago, the Fire Station had a distress call but could not respond because the fire tender had broken down. He said that Winneba, Ajumako and Gomoa were called for assistance but they also responded that their tenders were in bad condition and a message had to sent to Mankessim and Accra but because of the distance fire personnel could not arrive at the scene early, which infuriated crowd who had not been able to bring the fire under control. According to the District Fire Officer, the people started hurling stones the personnel of the Service, who went to the fire scene in mufti.

He told GNA that investigation into the cause of outbreak of the fire revealed that an apprentice carpenter who slept at a coffin shop cooked food and left coal pot with fire and went out. The District Fire Officer stated that foam and other materials in the shop got heated and caught fire leading to the outbreak. Mr Brew appealed to the people to stop attacking fire personnel since their inability to respond immediately to distress calls could be due to mechanical fault.