Fire extinguishers are by far the basic first aid system to fire outbreaks; a recommendation by the Fire Service for all homes, vehicles and habitable facilities.
But how certain are you that the extinguisher you buy from the market is certified standard and fit for purpose.
This has been a challenge for the fire service in the Ashanti Region with several Ghanaians bringing in all kinds of fire extinguishers being sold openly on the market.
These fire extinguishers brought in predominantly from china most of which are inferior are sold at the Suame Magazine mechanics enclave and under traffic lights.
At the Oforikrom traffic light, a young man who gives his name as Kwabena Amponsah AKA Woyomi sells fire extinguishers on the street.
He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, “I buy it from magazine. The prices range between 10 and 60 cedis depending on the size. My customers are mainly drivers and restaurant owners who want to buy it for their business buildings.”
Asked about how they check the quality of the extinguishers he replied, “I have the water and the powder. But people mostly prefer the powder. You can even see that the water based ones are very rusty because people are not buying them. The big ones have gauges and that is what we use to check the quality.
Taxi and trotro drivers appear to be the biggest buyers for these street fire extinguisher hawkers.
I sought to find out from taxi drivers at the Ahojo taxi rank what they look out for when buying these fire extinguishers.
A driver admitted, “I don’t really know what to look out for when I am buying a fire extinguisher. For the last one I had; I bought it from those hawkers who sell car reflectors when I went to fix my car at magazine.”
Another taxi driver pointed out, “Some are sold on the streets especially at Oforikrom and magazine but for us we check the expiry dates. I prefer the small powdered one. Some of us buy the vaporized one but when there is heat in the car it breaks. There is the small one like a spray but it is not effective.”
Just a few meters up the hill however; this shop name withheld stocks European Fire Extinguishers. The shop attendant Collins Frimpong tells me his shop is certified by the fire service to sell EU standard fire extinguishers.
The fire service in the region however points out that it cannot do much about the situation because of the open market regime. Regional public relations officer ADO 2 Desmond Ackah contends aside the work of the Standards Authority; his outfit can only give technical advice to the public.
He noted, “Because of our setting and the issue of trade liberalization, you will have people bringing in different kinds of extinguishers from different parts of the world that we as a service do not have control over. That falls under the purview of some other body. That is why we always want to advocate for members of the public to get to us so that as per the mandate that the fire service has given us, we can give the appropriate technical advice.”
Ultimate News gathered that Ghana does not have any bespoke standards for fire extinguishers. The country however adopts the British Standards obviously by colonial default.
ADO 1 Desmond Ackah was however hopeful the fire service can be given the legal powers to flush all inferior fire extinguishers from the market.
“We have been advocating for changes in our regulations and I know we should see that change so that the fire service will be empowered to be able to do all those things that will ensure that people have the right kind of extinguishers that will serve their need rather than what is happening in the system.”
Until this is done however, people might just be deluding themselves of having quality and standardized fire extinguishers only to be caught pants down when fire erupts.
By: Ghana/Ultimatefmonline.com/106.9FM/Ivan Heathcote-Fumador
The post A/R – Substandard fire extinguishers flood market appeared first on Ultimate FM.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS