The Fire Services Bureau (CB) announced yesterday that the number of fire alerts in the first half of this year dropped by 10.77 percent to 406 from the same period of last year.
The bureau held its quarterly press conference yesterday at its headquarters next to Sai Van Lake, near Macau Tower, where Lei Long Kit, chief of the bureau’s Research and Planning Department, announced its statistics on fire alerts, ambulance call-outs, and other rescue incidents for the first half of this year.
According to Lei, the bureau attended to 25,966 incidents in the first half of this year, a decrease of 6.1 percent from the 27,654 recorded in the same period of last year. Among the 25,699 incidents, 22,388 involved ambulance call-outs, down 3.53 percent year-on-year.
The 25,966 incidents recorded in the first half of this year included 406 fire alerts, a decrease of 10.77 percent from the 455 recorded in the same period of last year.
According to Lei, 318 of the 406 fire alerts recorded in the first six months of this year were those where firefighters did not need to extinguish the fire with a fire hose after arriving at the scene, accounting 79.06 percent of the total.
Lee pointed out that the recent humid weather conditions have led to multiple false fire alerts triggered by “insect foggers” over the past 1 to 2 months. Historically, similar incidents occurred where smoke from “insect foggers” initially obscured the cause, prompting firefighters to breach the doors to the affected units – only to confirm false alarms.
Lei said that forgetting to turn off the stove, leaving still unextinguished items, burning of joss sticks or papers, short circuits of electrical wires, and the malfunction of machinery or equipment continued to be the most common causes of fire alerts in the first half of this year, with a total of 255 cases, accounting for 62.8 percent of the total number of fire alerts.
Lei also said that the year-on-year decline in the number of ambulance call-outs in the first half of this year was mainly due to a decrease in the number of cases involving minor discomforts such as fever and shortness of breath.
Overall, Lei said, dizziness, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, vomiting and fever, as well as various types of injuries and wounds were the major causes of using an ambulance in the first half of this year.
Meanwhile, Lei also said that in the first half of this year, firefighters conducted 4,197 fire safety inspections in buildings in which 50 were fined for violating the Law on Fire Safety of Buildings and Premises.
Flanked by other senior officers, Lei Long Kit (centre), chief of the Fire Services Bureau’s (CB) Research and Planning Department, addresses yesterday’s press conference at the bureau’s headquarters next to Sai Van Lake. – Photo: Armindo Neves
