Sub Station In-charge at the Upper West Regional Headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Divisional Officer Grade Three (DO III) Adams Issahaku, has urged the general public to be custodians of the environment by stopping bushfires.
Speaking in an interview with Info Radio, DO III Adams Issahaku said bushfires are prevalent in the harmattan season as the trade winds are strengthened causing disparaging fires with the least combustible atmosphere created.
He said the general public must be carefully guided against handling of fires in this season saying that, fires could be delicate and easily gets out of hand.
The Fire In-Charge noted that even though the life of man is indispensably dependent on fire, handling of fire and related ignitable materials should express conscious-mindfulness of their destructive tendencies.
He cautioned farmers, hunters, herdsmen and other people in wood charring and charcoal burning activities to as much as necessary create fire belts when they intend burning some portions of the their farms or the bush for their purposes so as to prevent burning out of bonds.
He further cautioned that no amount of fire should be downplayed as a tiny glint could escalate into ravenous fires capable of destroying life and property.
DO III Adams Issahaku called on the public to help maintain and enforce the regulations governing bushfires in the country by bringing perpetrators to book in accordance with the law.
In 1983, an anti-bushfire law (PNDC Law 46) was promulgated to prohibit the setting of fires except for certain agricultural, forestry and game management purposes. The purpose of the law is to protect land cover, wildlife and habitats.
He thus, urged for the Ghanaian social and cultural systems to recognize that bush burning is a deviance and must be stopped and perpetrators sanctioned accordingly.
He added that it was important for Ghanaians to collectively realize that bush burning and bush fires are detrimental to the climate and agricultural production, especially in the savanna ecological zone.
Thus, he urged Ghanaians to take responsibility in preventing bush fires for the general good and wellbeing of the country, for the present generation and generations yet unborn.
The Fire Officer identified human factors as the most common causes of bushfires, giving the backing that, humans have a greater role to play in preventing bush fires.
He cited activities of farmers, hunters, herdsmen, smoke puffers and vehicular effusions as leading causes which must be controlled.
He however, stated that few natural phenomena such as the savanna ecological zone in nature is highly prone to bushfires.
Bushfires are becoming one of the environmental challenges confronting Ghana and increasingly it has become difficult for the Government to control it because this activity is deeply rooted in the socio-cultural and economic systems of the people.
According to data gathered over the years, every year about 30% of the forest areas are destroyed by fire.
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