IC announces fire prevention guidelines for heritage sites

Firemen fight A-Ma Temple blaze

The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has issued a set of advisory guidelines regarding the prevention of fires at heritage sites after an incident at the A-Ma Temple earlier this month.
Leong Wai Man, head of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the IC, said that according to reports by the temple management, all electrical devices were turned off and no incense was burning after the temple was closed. She believes that further investigations are called for.
“These are only advisory guidelines. Regarding the incident at the temple, we have spoken to the management and they said that [the] electricity was not on that night, yet a fire still occurred. Surely that justifies an investigation.”
A representative from the Association for Macau Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection, Manuel Iok Pui Ferreira, also expressed his concern over the incident at the past weekend’s TDM Forum debate, saying that the A-Ma Temple’s original structure had been damaged.
“As far as protecting cultural relics goes, it’s a voluntary contribution since there’s no legal basis to enforce safety guidelines [for monuments]. We hope to see such guidelines in the law and make temples responsible for preventing unnecessary fires,” he added.
The fire broke out in the UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site on February 10, damaging the interior of the temple’s main hall.