The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has raised concerns over what it describes as poor emergency reporting practices by the public during the ongoing flooding situation in Accra, warning that delays and inaccurate information are hampering response efforts.
Assistant Divisional Officer, Alex King Nartey, said many residents affected by floods often fail to use official emergency lines and instead rely on social media posts or incorrect phone numbers when seeking urgent help.
According to him, this trend is making it difficult for emergency responders to locate victims quickly and deploy assistance effectively.
“Unfortunately, people do not keep our emergency numbers in their minds or at hand and only call the fire service when there’s an emergency, and they end up calling the wrong numbers,” he said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, June 29, 2026.
He added that some residents also turn to Facebook videos to alert authorities rather than using direct communication lines, a practice he said does not support rapid response.
“Again, we find a lot of these people also doing Facebook video, ‘Fire Service, we need you, we need you.’ We can’t see such a video and respond because we would have to know the exact location,” he said.
Mr. Nartey cited a recent incident in which responders struggled to locate a caller due to unclear directions.
“I think I was on a call with another station, and they put one lady on the line and we were asking her for the exact location and she was like, it’s near a big gutter. How do we get to the big gutter?” he recounted.
He stressed that vague descriptions and reliance on informal location references significantly slow down rescue operations, especially during flooding emergencies.
The comments come as heavy rains continue to trigger flooding across parts of Accra, leaving several communities struggling with disrupted movement and rising water levels.
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