The Fire Services Bureau (CB) yesterday announced the number of fire attendances in the first three quarters of this year, in which human error remained the most common cause of fires, accounting for 66.47 percent of the total number of fire attendances, urging the public not to leave their cooking unattended and to turn off all their electrical appliances before leaving home, while also being careful in handling and disposing of flammable items in their daily life, including cigarette ends.
According to yesterday’s press conference by CB spokesman Wong Si Tim, the number of fire alarms attended stood at 680 between January and September, an increase of 47 cases, or 7.42 percent, as compared with the same period of last year, and the most frequent cause of fires continued to be the result of human carelessness, including leaving food unattended on stoves, short-circuiting of electrical wires, malfunctioning of machinery and equipment as well as unattended burning joss sticks and joss paper, which all together accounted for 452 cases, or 66.47 percent, of the total number of fire alarms attended.
Detailing the bureau’s fire and rescue incident statistics for the first nine months of this year at its headquarters in Nam Van, Wong noted that the number of fire services and ambulances in attendance during the period exceeded 40,000, an additional 1,948 cases, or an increase of five percent over the same period last year. Among them, about 34,000 ambulance trips were made during the same period, a year-on-year surge of 2,131 attendances, or 6.6 percent, with an increase in the number of patients seeking treatment at hospitals’ emergency departments for minor ailments such as fever, dizziness and headache, with a total of 18,329 trips, accounting for 53.71 percent of the total number of ambulance attendances.
Wong warned members of the public over the misuse of ambulances: “Ambulance resources are always precious and limited, and they should be reserved for those in need,” also urging motorists to give way to ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Office of Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said in a statement on Tuesday that as this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the 25th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland, several mega events and celebrations are scheduled to be held one after the other, resulting in a significant increase in the number of crowds, adding that under the guidance of the Secretariat for Security, the Fire Services Bureau has formulated a range of operational plans and measures in respect of the fire safety risks associated with mega events, including the formulation of rescue plans for a number of venues, and the arrangement of its officers and emergency vehicles to stand by in the vicinity of such large-scale events and possible crowded areas.
In response to media enquiries, CB spokesman Wong said that the bureau has remained in close communication and liaison with a range of public entities, including the Public Security Forces, to take relevant actions concerning different activities and incidents, including stepping up inspections in the community. He also said that the bureau would continue to proactively conduct inspections in different neighbourhoods and deal with the opinions expressed by members of the public in accordance with the monitoring and enforcement powers conferred on the bureau under the new legislation.
Regarding the data on the fire safety inspections in residential buildings, the bureau, according to Wong, conducted 12,236 inspections between January and September, involving 5,156 buildings and a total of 54,598 households, among which 1,682 were carried out in low-rise buildings. Under the new Framework Law on Fire Safety in Buildings and Premises, 32 households were fined for placing miscellaneous objects, shoe racks and motorcycles in the evacuation routes of their buildings and failing to rectify the situation despite repeated notifications, or in particularly serious cases.
Fire Services Bureau (CB) officers, including its spokesman Wong Si Tim (centre), release details of the bureau’s fire and rescue incident statistics for the first nine months of this year during yesterday’s press conference at its headquarters in Nam Van. – Photo: Yuki Lei
