Fire Services Bureau (CB) Commissioner Leong Iok Sam said yesterday that his bureau has been liaising with the mainland authorities to allow local ambulances to pick up Macau residents injured in the mainland, adding that the liaison process has come to an end and its results will be announced in due course.
Leong made the remarks during a press conference at the CB headquarters in Nam Van after releasing last year’s ambulance and fire statistics.
According to Leong, Macau recorded 836 fires last year, up by 2.45 percent, or 20 cases, year on year, among which 487 fires were mainly due to unattended stoves, short circuits of electric appliances, machine malfunctions and embers from burning joss sticks and incense papers, accounting for 58.25 percent of the total number of fires.
Statistics show that the bureau’s firefighting, rescue, emergency and ambulance services plus other special operations totalled 52,685 last year, down by 4,739 operations, or 8.25 percent, compared to 57,424 in 2022, Leong added.
Firefighters carried out 1,822 rescues such as assisting in opening locked doors and helping the injured, a year-on-year decrease of 114 cases, or 5.89 percent, compared to 2022, Leong said, pointing out that the total number of special service operations in 2023 reached 6,968, up by 1,077 cases from the previous year.
Thanks to civil society’s return to post-pandemic normality last year, Leong said, the number of ambulance attendances dropped by 5,722 cases to 43,059 cases last year, a year-on-year decrease of 11.73 percent.
Leong added that the overall number of ambulance cases recorded last year was mainly due to users complaining about dyspnoea (shortness of breath), dizziness, abdominal pain, fever, and palpitations.
In view of the city’s limited ambulance resources, Leong said the bureau would continue to step up its awareness-raising campaigns and advertisements against misuse of ambulance services.
In terms of the city’s Legal Regime of Fire Safety in Buildings & Enclosures which took effect in 2022, Leong noted that the bureau last year fined 34 households, mainly for the placement of shoe racks and motorbikes, among other miscellaneous objects, in evacuation routes, Leong said, pointing out that 25 of them have meanwhile paid their fines.
Meanwhile, Leong said that the bureau will continue to assess the city’s fire station locations in line with social development, underlining that the bureau’s service commitment continues to be to arrive at the scene of a fire within six minutes.
According to Leong, in response to frequent traffic congestions in the Ilha Verde and Barrier Gate areas in recent years, an additional fire station has been set up in the Ilha Verde district, while another one will also be built in the Zone A land reclamation area in the future.
Fire Services Bureau (CB) Commissioner Leong Iok Sam (fifth from left) hosts a press conference yesterday at the CB headquarters in Nam Van about last year’s ambulance and fire statistics. – Photo: Yuki Lei
