The Ashanti Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has stepped up educational campaigns to sensitize the people in the communities on the causes of fire and its attendant devastating effects.

The move is to help reduce the incidence of fire outbreaks and its negative consequences on the victims, the government and the national economy.

One of such awareness programs had been conducted at Breman and Kronom-Afrancho, in the Suame Municipality, where about 30 per cent of fire outbreaks in the Region, had occurred in January this year.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Joshua Ngoah, Ashanti Regional Fire Commander, speaking at the ceremony said the Region recorded a total of 225 fire outbreaks in the month of January this year alone.

Two people died during the outbreaks while properties running into several millions of cedis were destroyed.

ACFO Ngoah stressed the need for the people to change their behavior in the way they handled naked fire and keep good house-keeping practices to reduce outbreaks.

Assistant Divisional Officer Grade 1 (ADO1), Ackah Desmond Essoun, Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO), advised owners of shops to pack their wares properly when they closed for the day.

They should desist from leaving naked wires to touch their wares since that could spark fire outbreaks.

He said packing wares in front of streets and on fire hydrants made it difficult for fire tenders to penetrate and have access to hydrants in case of fire outbreaks.

ADO1 Essoun again cautioned shop owners against leaving electrical gadgets on when they closed their shops in the evening, and the use of cheap and sub-standard electrical cables to wire shops as well as the engagement of non-professional electricians to work for them.

He educated the shop owners on the proper use of gas cylinders and cautioned drivers to desist from filling their fuel tanks to the brim, which might also cause fire outbreaks.

Smoking closer to gas cylinders he added, was also a dangerous practice.

ADO1 Essoun said the awareness program would be sustained to create the needed awareness to reduce fire outbreaks in the Region. GNA