October 15, 2020 saw Gwollu, the capital of the Sissala West District in the Upper West Region of Ghana welcome a Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) Station for the first time.

The Fire Station was constructed by the Sissala West District Assembly while the Ghana National Fire Service provided the station’s only fire tender and personnel to man the facility.

However, these pictures you are seeing were taken during a visit to the facility in March 2022. It depicts the fire station in a rather sorry state as a huge portion of the zinc roofing sheet covering the shed under which the fire tender is parked, has been ripped off.

Personnel at the station at the time of the visit could only disclose that this has been the situation since May 15, 2021, when a rainstorm wreaked havoc on the seven-month-old fire station at the time, and till date, no repair works has been done on the damaged roof, as most recently confirmed by Mubaric Mystic of Gwollu FM 91.7mhz.

This fire station also houses the Gwollu Ambulance Station of the Ghana National Ambulance Service (GNAS) but the facility does not look well-resourced to manage these two important institutions.

At the ceremony to commission the facility in 2020, the Upper West Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku mentioned that “poor maintenance of state property is negatively affecting the nation”, and entreated the GNFS and the Sissala West District Assembly to maintain the facility to ensure it yielded the needed results.

Interestingly, the state in which the station is in now, means the facility will not be able to yield its full results as we all expect.

The entire building is in an unpleasant state as the plywood fabricated control/watch room is completely empty with a signpost of both the Fire Service and the Ambulance Service rusting away on the dusty floor.

The exterior of the building also has its paints peeling off leaving the beauty of the facility nothing to write home about.

A huge poly tank which was installed at the time of the commissioning has also been destroyed by the rainstorm. The facility now manages one of a smaller size for its operations.

Source: Joe Parker