title: Trend of Fire Outbreaks in Ghana and Ways to Prevent These Incidents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Ghana, fire incidents have become a regular occurrence, with thousands of lives and millions of dollars lost every year. Hardly a day passes without news of a fire outbreak in some part of Ghana, causing fear and panic among the people. This generates much discussion centering on rumors relating to politics, sabotage, misfortune, religious differences, etc. This article seeks to discuss the trend of fire incidents occurring in Ghana from 2000 to 2013 and the different ways to prevent these incidents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The pattern of fire incidence in Ghana as a whole as well as in each region is discussed. The study took into consideration the causes, mechanisms, as well as preventive measures against the fire menace. Data were obtained from the head office of Ghana's national fire service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was noticed that in general the rate of fire incidence increased each year. This increase was attributed to several factors: rate of population growth and industrialization, unstable electricity, urbanization, negligence, illegal electrical connection, etc. The cause of fire was categorized into domestic, industrial, vehicular, institutional, electrical, commercial, bush, and others. Among these causes, domestic fire accounted for 41% of the total number of fire incidents in the country.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Finally, this study presents several recommendations to help prevent and mitigate fire incidents in Ghana.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Design and Process Safety, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Emmanuel K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Addai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry Unit, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: Samuel K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tulashie
authors.affiliation: Sekondi Palm Lands, Sekondi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Joe-Steve
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Annan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yeboah
keywords: cause of fire; fire development; fire in Ghana; prevention of fire