The Western Regional Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is appealing to the public to adhere to basic fire safety measures to help reduce the occurrence of fire outbreaks during the harmattan season.
To them, the period, particularly when it becomes severe, makes the weather a fertile ground for fire outbreaks.
Harmattan season is characterized by the dryness of the environment, leaves, and every object material, including humans, which makes it very easy for a fire to spread at every given opportunity.
In an interview on Spice FM, ADO II Stephen Adams at the rural fire department stated game hunters, farmers, and palm wine tappers should exercise restraint as they go about their duties during the dry season.
He also cautioned cigarette smokers to discard their cigarette butts properly.
Touching on the negative effects of bushfires, ADO II Evans Kwofie of the Public Education Department at the GNFS, pointed out that the land loses its nutrients, as well as the extinction of some medicinal plants.
ADO II Kwofie further highlighted that a person stands to face prosecution if he or she sets fire to a bush without the permission of the fire service as stimulated in the PNDC Law 229, Act, 1990.
