The Fire Services Bureau (CB) said in a statement yesterday that after investigating the overturned fire engine incident that occurred earlier this month, it confirmed that the vehicle was operating normally.
According to the statement, when the bureau checked the speed of the fire engine, it found that it was doing 19 km/h at its fastest and, on average, the vehicle was being driven at 11-14 km/h. The statement said that even though the fire engine was part of an emergency operation, the data shows that the vehicle was not being driven at a fast speed. The statement also underlined that the driver was experienced, adding that he has been driving emergency vehicles for 10 years and has been driving fire engines for six years.
The statement underlined that the bureau has been trying to investigate the case from various professional angles but they have yet to come to a conclusion on why the incident occurred. The statement pledged that once it finds out the cause of the incident, it will announce the findings as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the statement also noted that 852 fire incidents were recorded last year, a 5.32 percent increase year-on-year. The statement listed the following main causes of the fire incidents: people leaving their stoves on, leaving kindling items behind, or machine malfunctions. The statement said that these causes led to 480 cases of fire incidents.
According to the statement, ambulances operated by the Fire Services Bureau were used more than 39,000 times last year, which was a 6.22 percent increase year-on-year. The statement noted that until Saturday, the bureau had transported 5,319 suspected cases of COVID-19 to the hospital, which involved 6,868 people –3,647 males and 3,221 females.
