Chapter 18: Fire Services

The Fire Services Department fights fires, protects life and property in fires and other calamities, provides emergency ambulance services and gives fire protection advice to the public.

The department's establishment of 9 285 staff comprises 8 575 uniformed and 710 civilian members. It is one of the world's finest fire brigades, with well-trained personnel, advanced communication systems, and modern equipment and appliances.

The department responded to 44 564 fire calls, 21 257 special service calls and 540 976 ambulance calls in 2001, representing an average of 1 662 calls a day.

To further enhance the department's search and rescue capabilities in major incidents and natural calamities, 12 Special Rescue Squads (SRS) were formed in 2000 and 2001. All SRS members have undergone a stringent training course in the application of specialised equipment and skills to handle disastrous incidents such as earthquakes, landslides, flooding and tunnel fires as well as to carry out mountain rescues. The SRS are strategically deployed in 12 land-based fire stations. An SRS will be dispatched to accompany a rescue tender if required in any incident.

Of the 44 564 fire calls received in 2001, 21 were classified as major fires of No. 3 alarm and above. Careless handling or disposal of smoking materials was still the major cause of fires, totalling 3 749 cases in all, followed by accidents involving the preparation of foodstuffs and electrical faults, which accounted for 2 668 and 1 112 cases, respectively. Unwanted alarms, caused mainly by faulty automatic alarm systems or poor positioning of such systems, contributed to about 66 per cent of the total number of fire calls.

In 2001, fires claimed 32 lives and 468 persons, including 14 Fire Services members, were injured. Fire Services personnel rescued 3 881 people. A notable fire during the year was a No. 4 alarm blaze on February 21 in a bakery factory in Sham Tseng, in which 135 persons were rescued.

The department also provides a wide range of rescue services in incidents such as traffic accidents, people trapped in lifts or locked in rooms, gas leakages, house collapses, flooding, landslides, industrial accidents and attempts by people to jump from a height. The department handled 21 257 emergency special service calls in 2001. Major incidents included two search and rescue operations: one on August 28 in Sai Kung for an off-duty fireman who perished while attempting to rescue a drowning teenager; and another on October 29 in Yau Tong following the collapse of an industrial building under demolition, in which six workers were killed and eight were injured.

The demand for emergency ambulance services continued to rise. During the year, ambulances answered 484 501 emergency calls, representing an increase of 5.4 per cent compared with 2000.

A 12-minute response time has been adopted as the performance indicator for emergency ambulance services since November 1998. All ambulances and ambulance aid motorcycles have been equipped with automatic external defibrillators.

In order to enhance the quality of ambulance services, the department has completed a consultancy study on further development and will take forward an implementation plan to provide paramedic ambulance care on ambulances in three years' time. The department also strengthened the application of intubation skills and advanced protocols to enhance the pre-hospital resuscitation service for patients in critical condition. An additional Mobile Casualty Treatment Centre has been acquired to improve efficiency in handling injured persons in multiple-casualty incidents.

The Fire Services Communication Centre, manned round the clock, is responsible for mobilising all fire-fighting and ambulance resources and receiving complaints about fire hazards and dangerous goods. It also acts as an emergency co-ordinator for other government departments and public utilities in major incidents.

The centre is equipped with a computerised mobilising system and other telecommunication sub-systems which together form an integrated whole known as the Second Generation Mobilising System (SGMS). With regular enhancement, the SGMS has been functioning efficiently and effectively for more than a decade in meeting the target resource dispatch time.

In order to meet the forecast growth of emergency calls over the next decade, a $440 million Third Generation Mobilising System (TGMS) is being developed. The contract for the design, implementation and commissioning of the TGMS was awarded in March. The new system, expected to be commissioned by the end of 2003, will adopt state-of-the-art technology and have a larger capacity that will enhance the department's capability and efficiency in mobilisation and communication.

The department formulates and enforces fire safety policies and regulations. It also helps and advises the public on fire protection measures and the abatement of fire hazards. The department places great emphasis on public education in fire prevention.

The Community Relations Division is responsible for enhancing the public's knowledge of fire safety and co-ordinating with other government departments and district fire safety committees in stepping up fire prevention publicity in the community. To further enhance the fire safety awareness of members of the public at district level, local fire stations have taken up fire prevention publicity activities such as organising fire safety talks, seminars and fire drills since April. In 2001, 2 250 fire drills at various locations and 5 118 fire safety talks and seminars were conducted for various sectors of the community.

The Commercial Buildings and Premises Division enforces the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance to upgrade the fire safety measures of specified commercial buildings and prescribed commercial premises. The Director of Buildings administers a Building Safety Loan Scheme which provides non-means tested loans to individual owners requiring financial assistance in carrying out building safety including fire safety improvement works, either on a voluntary basis or as required by law. Owners are required to pay interest calculated in accordance with the no-gain no-loss principle. Those facing hardship, such as the elderly or people with very low income, may apply for interest-free loans and longer repayment periods.

The Building Improvement and Support Division is making preparations for the implementation of the Fire Safety (Buildings) Bill once the legislation has been passed by the Legislative Council. The purpose of the bill is to upgrade the fire safety standards of old composite and domestic buildings. A 'Building Fire Safety Enforcement Force' was established by the department in April to institute appropriate enforcement action against fire hazards identified by the 'Building Fire Safety Inspection Force' that was set up in July 2000.

In order to enrol more members to assist in reporting fire hazards and disseminating fire prevention messages, the Fire Safety Ambassador Scheme has been extended to 112 organisations, including schools, hospitals, public transportation companies and major property management companies. A total of 6 275 people were trained as Fire Safety Ambassadors during the year.

A major fire prevention publicity event was launched on November 25, focusing on improvement of fire safety standards in buildings. A series of publicity activities, including broadcasting of fire safety messages on television and radio, fire station open days as well as fire safety roving exhibitions, was organised.

During the year, Fire Services personnel conducted 51 345 fire safety inspections of all types of premises and issued 21 298 fire hazard abatement notices requiring the removal of fire hazards. These helped to ensure that fire prevention measures met the required standards and enhanced public awareness of fire safety. There were 557 prosecutions in cases of contravention of the Fire Services Ordinance, the Dangerous Goods Ordinance and the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance, with fines amounting to $1,746,683. The total included direct prosecutions for obstructing the means of escape in buildings, which resulted in 116 convictions and fines totalling $543,600.

The Licensing and Control Command was renamed the Licensing and Certification Command in April. It sets fire services requirements for buildings to ensure proper protection for the public. Some 7 556 submissions of building plans were processed during the year. A Bills Committee formed by the Legislative Council continued to scrutinise the Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Bill 2000 which sought to strengthen controls over the storage and conveyance of dangerous goods following a review by the command. The command had also completed a review of the Fire Services Ordinance, with a view to strengthening the enforcement powers against fire hazards, enhancing deterrent effects through revised penalties and to updating the provisions to cope with social changes and actual needs. As a result, the Fire Services (Amendment) Bill 2001 was introduced into the Legislative Council in July.

Since April 2001, the Fire Service Installation Division has been reorganised into two divisions: the Fire Service Installation Division under the Licensing and Certification Command and the Fire Service Installation Task Force under the Fire Safety Command. The former carries out acceptance tests of fire service installations and equipment in new buildings. The latter is tasked to handle complaints, conduct random checks on annual maintenance of fire service installations and equipment in existing buildings, monitor the performance of registered fire service installation contractors and take enforcement action under the Fire Services Ordinance.

Also in April, two new divisions were set up under the Fire Safety Command: the Theme Park Projects Division and the Railway Development Strategy Division. They are responsible for scrutinising consultancy studies reports, vetting building plans from the fire safety perspective and formulating fire safety requirements and recommendations in respect of the Hong Kong Disneyland project and the new railway infrastructure projects, respectively.

A Fire Protection Information System was commissioned in May to facilitate retrieval of essential information for operational needs; preparation of statistics and reports for management and control; and on-line information sharing among all divisions of the Licensing and Certification and Fire Safety Commands, Regional Fire Command Headquarters and the Fire Services Communication Centre.

The department in 2001 operated 779 fire appliances and supporting vehicles fitted with up-to-date fire fighting and rescue equipment. Equipment procured during the year, to replace older appliances or to augment the existing fleet, included one 53-metre aerial ladder platform, one large hydraulic platform, eight hydraulic platforms, nine major pumps, two rapid intervention vehicles, one hose foam carrier, three light rescue units, two diving tenders, two fire motorcycles and two mini fire/rescue trucks.

The construction of a modernised and high-performance fireboat was completed. The new fireboat will replace the Alexander Grantham as the flagship in 2002. A diving support vessel, scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2002, is under construction. Upon commissioning, it will greatly enhance the efficiency of the diving teams in underwater search and rescue operations.

The Fire Services Training School organises a 26-week initial training programme for new recruits. The programme covers basic fire-fighting techniques, compartment fire behaviour training, operation of fire appliances and equipment, breathing apparatus, ambulance aid and physical training. Subjects on fire protection, legislation, physics and science of combustion are also included.

Altogether, 133 recruits comprising 25 Station Officers and 108 firemen successfully completed initial training during the year. Moreover, a total of 2 847 in-service members have attended continuation training courses, compartment fire behaviour training courses and special rescue squad training courses.

Apart from providing basic initial training for new recruits, the school has provided training courses for 1 112 staff of other government departments and private organisations in basic fire-fighting techniques and the use of breathing apparatus. Besides, 5 507 members of the public have visited the school.

The Ambulance Command Training School provides a 24-week basic training programme for recruit ambulancemen on ambulance aid, anatomy and physiology, mountain rescue and physical training; cardiac-pulmonary resuscitation training for the staff of homes for the elderly, schools, community organisations and other government departments; and paramedic training at Emergency Medical Assistant (EMA) II level to ambulance personnel. Paramedic training covers patient assessment, intravenous fluid therapy, defibrillation, intubation and administration of selected drugs. By the end of 2001, 381 ambulance personnel were qualified at EMAII level. To cope with the increase in demand for emergency ambulance services, the school trained 50 new recruits and ran 58 refresher and recertification courses for 706 ambulance personnel in 2001.

In-service training was provided to 2 984 fire and 1 894 ambulance personnel, while 44 officers were selected to attend various training programmes in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada and the Mainland. The department recruited and appointed 27 Station Officers, 71 firemen/firewomen and 63 ambulancemen/ambulancewomen during the year.

In line with the Government's policy to provide an emergency response to all areas within minimum set times according to category of risk, the department continued to plan and build fire stations and ambulance depots at strategic locations to cope with local development.

During the year, Ma Wan Fire Station, Lau Fau Shan Fire Station-cum-Ambulance Depot and Tai Chek Sha Fire Station-cum-Ambulance Depot were under construction and scheduled for completion in 2002.

The department manages 3 951 departmental quarters, of which 3 683 are for uniformed members of the rank-and-file.

The Public Liaison Group was set up to encourage public participation in monitoring and improving the delivery of emergency fire and ambulance services. Thirty members of the public from all walks of life were randomly selected from among 89 applicants to form the group's eighth-term membership during the year.