Nipping perennial market fires in the bud (Article)

Just within two years, the country’s major markets have witnessed not less than four major fire outbreaks. A few days ago, some 200 shops were gutted by fires at Makola in the Central Business District (CBD) of Accra, causing massive losses of cash, wares, and other properties.

While the traditional firefighting approach of the Ghana National Fire Service is acknowledged, there is a need for relevant stakeholders to roll out other measures that will effectively complement the work of the GNFS, especially at market centres.

Education and training

There is a need for constant education in market centres about dangers, fires, and fire-triggering items. Market centres must collaborate effectively with the Ghana National Fire Service in providing training to shop owners at regular intervals. The training should encompass risk factors, responses to fire outbreaks, and other safety measures to be adhered to in the event of an inferno.

Shop owners can also elect from among themselves representatives who will frequently inform shop owners and the entire market community about the need for adherence to fire safety mechanisms.

It is also important for market managers to provide some basic regulations as to fire safety that shop owners must adhere to. These regulations must be stricter for shops and businesses that deal in highly flammable wares and inventory and stricter for dry seasons such as the harmattans.

Fire Brigades

Market managers and shop owners should engage the services of fire brigades, whose primary responsibility will be to parade various lanes or points of the bigger markets and provide emergency firefighting services while they alert officials from the mainstream GNFS for support.

The fire brigades would also embark on random fire safety checks at various shops and, in collaboration with the GNFS, advise traders against fire-causing items and materials.

The brigades must report recalcitrant and uncooperative traders who fail to observe fire safety measures.

There should be a positive collaboration between the fire brigades and the GNFS in relation to training, tools, and equipment for emergency firefighting and alert systems, among others.

Personnel in the brigades should be sufficient to cover all areas of the market and perform their tasks in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. A shift basis should be appropriate.

Additionally, the fire brigades may be funded with a special toll or levy payable by shop owners.

Protection of Resources

Breakouts of fire result not only in the destruction of wares or inventory but also physical cash and other fixed assets. It is important for traders to minimise the risk of losing cash from fires by depositing huge sums of cash in the bank prior to the close of business.

Special arrangements may be made with banks for the banking of cash beyond normal banking hours and on Saturdays. Traders may also use internet banking and check payments (which inherently offer better security) rather than resort to stacking up cash to be used for purchases that may be lost during a fire outbreak. A collaboration between market managers and the Ghana Association of Banks would help a great deal.

Shop owners may also purchase various insurance policies for their wares and other assets, for which they may receive some compensation from insurance companies for any loss attributable to fire.

Sanctions

There must be strict enforcement of fire safety rules. Any shop or business that flouts those rules must be sanctioned heavily by market managers to serve as a deterrent to others. Also, shops or owners who are found to have triggered a fire outbreak must be heavily fined, which money should provide additional compensation to other affected shops or businesses.

Conclusion

The GNFS has the mandate in law to ensure compliance with fire safety regulations and provide education and training. However, one thing is clear: the service has had serious challenges in terms of capacity and logistics.

It is critically important that while the government takes steps to resolve the many challenges bedeviling the GNFS, market managers and shop ensure liaise with stakeholders, including the GNFS and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), in making their centres free of widespread fire outbreaks.

Market-fire incidences can become a thing of the past if direct stakeholders work hand-in-hand with state authorities to curb them.