Fire bureau records decline in service calls, 42 ‘suicides’ logged in Q1

The Fire Services Bureau (CB) announced yesterday a decline in incidents during the first three months of this year, with 215 fire calls and 11,409 ambulance attendances, while the number of suspected suicide records received, according to data provided to the Times, totaled 42, a decrease of one case compared to the previous year.

At a press conference yesterday at the bureau’s headquarters in Nam Van, it was announced that the total number of call-out incidents in the first quarter of this year reached 13,207. This included 215 fire alarms, 11,409 ambulance callouts, 439 rescue operations, and 1,144 special services.

Among these, ambulance responses and special services experienced a more significant decrease compared to the same period last year, with 365 and 472 fewer cases, respectively.

The bureau attributed the decline in ambulance responses and special services to a significant rise in public awareness regarding daily safety and ambulance services. Additionally, cases of fever, respiratory distress, and other minor discomforts have decreased.

Special services primarily relate to the bureau’s daily patrols, according to the bureau, which emphasized that while the figures show a decline compared to last year, progress has been made in relevant areas.

“Residents have become more alert to fires,” the bureau stated. According to the bureau, fire alarm attendances decreased by 15.35% year-on-year, still mainly caused by forgetting to turn off cookers, leaving a fire with embers, burning joss paper or incense, short-circuiting electrical wires, and malfunctioning machinery – which together accounted for 137 cases, or 63.72% of the total fire alarms attended.

In early March, a fire in a residential flat, suspected to be caused by a leakage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), resulted in injuries to five people aged between two and 66, with three requiring hospital emergency treatment. Yesterday, the bureau reported a total of five cases of LPG leakage in the first quarter of this year, attributed to faulty equipment not being repaired or maintained in a timely manner, along with a lack of regular maintenance.

During the press conference, the bureau warned the public about potential safety hazards associated with the use of electrical equipment and cookers. Following a gas explosion on March 4, the bureau opened appointments for LPG testing and inspections for households.

Members of the public can make appointments via phone, email, or online. As of March, a total of 33 appointments had been registered.

The bureau noted that since the new fire safety law came into force in 2022, 109 households have been found in violation of the law in the first quarter of this year.

These cases primarily involve the parking of motorcycles on evacuation routes and the placement of miscellaneous objects, with 12 cases resulting in fines. In early March, the bureau pointed out that during its inspections of “three-nil buildings” – buildings that do not have an owners’ corporation or any form of residents’ organization, nor employ a property management company to manage the building – many dwellers were found placing LPG cylinders in their building’s corridors.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Police announced an arson case involving a rubbish bin in a toilet on the ground floor of a hotel in Cotai. The fire, which occurred yesterday morning, was extinguished by hotel staff using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived. No cigarette butts were found at the scene. Yuki Lei