THE Deputy Ashanti Regional Chief Fire Officer, Mr Obeng Dankwa-Dwamena, has denied that fire engines arrived very late at Denchemuoso on Thursday, January 29, 2009 when a family house caught fire.
Reacting to a Daily Graphic report of Wednesday, February 4, 2009, which quoted the Odikro of Denchemuoso, Nana Ofori Sarkodie, as saying that fire engines arrived four hours after the community had drawn their attention to a fire outbreak in a family house in the community, Mr Dwamena said his officers arrived at the scene at exactly 1. 21p.m.
“ We had the call at 1.15p.m. By 1.16p.m, my men had left the office heading towards Denchemuoso. They reached the community at exactly 1. 21p.m, ready to quench the fire, but a section of the youth started pelting them with stones,” he told the Daily Graphic in reaction to the assertion by the Odikro that the fire engines arrived late.
Mr Dankwa-Dwamena pointed out that the action of the youth compelled the firemen on the fire engines to call the Police Buffalo Unit for support “and the quick response by the police made it possible for the fire engines to put out the fire at exactly 2.50p.m. and by 3.40p.m, they had returned to the office to start writing their report on the fire outbreak”.
Explaining further, he said, “ I started monitoring the situation as soon as my attention was drawn to the fire outbreak at Denchemuoso, and followed it up when the firemen on the fire engines were confronted by a section of the youth in the community, who also pelted them with stones for reasons very difficult to explain and the assistance of the Buffalo Unit provided until my men arrived at their base at 3.40p.m.”
“It is therefore not true that we went there rather at 5p.m. as the chief wants the public to believe, because if we arrived in the community at 5p.m, my men could not have finished their job and returned at 3.40p.m. to write their report on how they quenched the fire in the community and the difficulty they encountered”.
He expressed concern about the action of the youth, saying it was time the public appreciated the value of firemen and their fire engines and supported them any time there was fire outbreak instead of creating problems for them.
He commended the Police Buffalo Unit for their quick response, which made it possible for them to put out the fire at Denchemuoso.
No comments:
Post a Comment