528 fire incidents in first half of the year

The latest statistics from the Fire Service indicate that the region has seen a decline in the number of blazes in the first half of this year, compared with the equivalent period last year. Lam Io Fan, the vice chief fire officer, told the media yesterday that local citizens have grown vigilant and highly responsive in spotting fires early over the past year.
According to the bureau’s data, a total of 528 fire cases were recorded in the first six months, a year-on-
year drop of 8.17 percent in comparison to the 575 cases recorded in the same period of 2014. Among the accidents that took place in the first half of 2015, 344 cases involved blazes that did not require extinguishing with water, while 128 cases were due to citizens’ failure to keep an eye on stoves. Lam disclosed that in the past, locals usually managed to contain the fires by themselves before they spread to a larger area. In addition, most were already put out before the fire brigade’s arrival at the accident scenes, thanks to the resourcefulness of citizens.
“This also shows that currently most citizens, in cases of fire, could notify us swiftly, and as a result the fire wouldn’t become very big,” said Lam.
At the moment, there are 1,091 firemen in total serving the region, a number far less than the maximum volume of 1,589 vacancies allowed at the bureau. However, the fire brigade is always looking for more recruits. “Currently the numbers of personnel are sufficient to deal with the workload. However, to correspond with the city’s future development, we are always actively recruiting firefighters to meet the requirements in five years,” said the fire officer.
Besides, Lam Io Fan also added that the bureau would brief function organizers on anti-fire measures for their activities through advance conferences, in order to prevent accidents.
Despite the drop in fire-related accidents, the number of ambulances deployed in the first half of the year saw a 17.97-percent rise, bringing the number from 590 to 696 year-on-year.  Staff reporter