The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has raised alarm over a disturbing surge in prank calls to the service, revealing that Northern Ghana alone recorded 67,000 false emergency calls in 2025, a development the service says is severely undermining its operations and stretching its resources.
DOIII Bright Akobanyam Awonatey, Officer in Charge of the Fire Safety Inspectorate for the Upper East Region, made the disclosure while speaking on Dreamz FM’s The State of Our Nation, describing the figure as deeply worrying and unacceptable.
He stressed that the sheer volume of false calls is diverting critical resources away from genuine emergencies, warning that the consequences could be fatal in situations where every second counts.
“Resources that are supposed to be channelled towards genuine firefighting are rather used to respond to prank calls,” he said.
DOIII Awonatey noted that the problem cuts across different categories of people, including adults who are expected to know better, pointing to a recent April Fools’ Day incident in Navrongo where a matured individual placed a false fire outbreak call, sending firefighters on an unnecessary trip from as far as the Paga station after the Navrongo appliance was found to be out of commission.
He warned that making false emergency calls to the fire service is a criminal offence, confirming that the Navrongo culprit was arrested and the matter sent to court as a deterrent to others.
The GNFS used the occasion to appeal to the public to treat emergency lines with the seriousness they deserve, stressing that a prank call today could cost an innocent life tomorrow.
