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DRr. Albert Brown Gaisie, the Chief Fire Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), is urging Ghanaians to be cautious of inferior cables which have flooded the Ghanaian market.

According to the Fire Chief, only experts can detect fake and durable cables, hence Ghanaians should always hire the services of qualified electricians.

He also urged the populace to change the entire wiring in their homes and offices every 10 years because the lifespan of electrical wires are sometimes as short as two years.

“The wiring of any structure is supposed to be changed at most every 10 years to ensure safety because the wiring may develop defect without the individual knowing it,” the internationally recognised Chief Fire Officer noted at a press conference in Accra yesterday.

Dr Gaisie further cautioned that even after making sure that the appropriate cables had been acquired for wiring of buildings, owners should ensure effective supervision to prevent the swapping of the durable materials acquired with inferior ones.

“When purchasing a wire, you have to check to ensure that the insulation and metal inside the rubber protecting it don’t match. For instance, you pick an air conditioner and the insulation is 6 or 10 mm but the wire in the same cable is different, that is dangerous,” Dr Gaisie pointed out.???????

He added that when purchasing cables individuals should insist that the salesperson cut a small portion of the cable for them to be sure of what is inside before paying for it.

He announced that the GNFS would from next week visit institutions, particularly government agencies, to fish out those who have failed to adhere to fire safety regulations and put in place fire safety measures such as acquiring fire safety certificate and fire extinguishers.

According to him, investigations conducted by the service indicated that media houses, churches, mechanics and many other institutions have failed to put fire safety measures in place.

Dr Gaisie disclosed that the sound-proof materials used to build studios of media houses are highly combustible, hence the need for media house owners to ensure that there are appropriate emergency exits put in place in the studios instead of relying on just one door which serves as entrance and exit at the same time.