Assistant Divisional Office Grade 1 (ADO1) William Sackey, said: “When there is leakage and your gas cylinder is outside, the oxygen blows it away but if your gas is closer to your cooker inside, it will cause explosion.”

ADO1 Sackey gave the advice when he educated the staff of Ghana News Agency on fire safety measures. He said faulty or old electrical gadgets, over loading of electrical sockets, negligence and ignorance could cause fire outbreaks.

He said all heavy electrical gadgets must be plugged directly into sockets and efforts must be made to unplug all electrical appliances with the exception of fridges that used stabilizers.

ADO1 Sackey said the greatest challenge to the combat of fire disasters was lack of accessibility to trouble spots and “sometimes people can call us and will not be able to give us precise direction and before you get there the harm might have been done”.

He said the role of GNFS was not only to extinguish fire outbreaks but also to educate the public on the preventions and management of such incidence.  ADO 1 Sackey classified fire outbreaks as ‘A’, which involved combustible materials such as paper, rubber cloth, wood and plastics materials.

Class ‘B’ are combustible liquids such as petrol, gas, kerosene, whilst   class ‘C’ fires comprise energised electrical equipment. Mr Sackey noted that fire outbreaks could be caused by poor households keeping, ware houses, offices and restaurants.