File photo of a fire hydrant
Since the most recent devastating market fire in Ghana, at the Adum Market in Kumasi, there has been the need for the Ghana National Fire Service to identify all its fire hydrants across the country.
This has become necessary in ensuring that when firefighters get to fire scenes, they adequately find water to help in their work.
The situation has become even more pressing after there was an incident regarding fire tenders not having water during the Adum Market fire, that prompted the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, to publicly display anger at the GNFS.
But what is the real situation of fire hydrants in the country?
Speaking to GhanaWeb, Divisional Officer Grade Two (DO II) Desmond Ackah, who is the Head of Public Relations of the GNFS, said as of December 2024, Ghana had a total of 1,832 fire hydrants nationwide.
However, he indicated that only 1,035 were in good conditions, leaving 797 unserviceable.
As a way of breakdown, below is a list of all these hydrants, as distributed across the various regions of the country:
1. Greater Accra: 394
2. Tema: 337
3. Ashanti: 222
4. Western: 193
5. Central: 161
6. Eastern: 160
7. Bono: 83
8. Volta: 66
9. Northern: 57
10. Upper West: 43
11. Bono East: 34
12. Upper East: 33
13. Western North: 13
14. Ahafo: 12
15. Oti: 10
16. North East: 10
17. Savannah: 4
According to the GNFS PRO too, there are over 88 sealed hydrants also across the country.
He explained that these hydrants have been sealed by the Ghana Water Limited, and that as of December 2024, there have been 88 so far.
By sealing, he said, it means toshut off or disable water supply to those hydrants to prevent their use for firefighting.
Here is a regional breakdown of these sealed hydrants:
1. Greater Accra: 35
2. Volta Region: 16
3. Western Region: 12
4. Northern Region: 9
5. Bono Region: 9
6. Upper East Region: 7
MRA/AE
Meanwhile, watch this concluding part of our sit-down with the 100-year-old World War II veteran, who was also present at the 28th February Shooting, below: