Excellent extinguishers: Firemen demonstrate the cold-cutting system for fighting fires in enclosed buildings. The Fire Services Department will enhance efficiency by employing more powerful equipment like this.

The Fire Services Department is exploring the possibility of civilianisation and is conducting a study with the Efficiency Unit to formulate a concrete plan by mid-year.

Speaking at his year-end briefing today, Director of Fire Services Lam Chun-man said the study findings will help the department utilise resources more effectively and reduce the need for open recruitment.

To help tackle the deficit, the department cut operational expenses by 2.5% in 2004-05. It will maintain a high level of efficiency of service, while reviewing its current services, operating procedures and resource allocation.

A Departmental Business Study will be conducted to review the procedures of issuing licences and certificates by the Fire Service Installation Division, Ventilation Division and Fire Protection Regional Offices to improve its services to relevant businesses.

"With reference to the report of the study which has just been completed, we have set short-term, medium-term and long-term targets for our improvement measures. We will consult relevant industries in due course regarding the details of the implementation of the improvement measures," Mr Lam said.

The department launched the First Responder programme on a trial basis in September, to boost the pre-hospital survival rate of casualties. During the trial, First Responders attended to 294 cases and dealt with 227 casualties who were mainly suffering cardiac arrest and breathing problems.

Mr Lam said the programme will be extended to 20 fire stations from February 8, and will be further expanded in phases to 64 fire stations by year's end.

There were 37,774 fire calls, down 8.3%, or 3,430 cases, against the 41,204 calls in 2002.

Last year, 94.19% of all building fires were handled within the graded response time. There were 1,833 cases in which equipment could not reach the scenes within the graded response time, mainly due to traffic congestion, long travelling distances and rugged roads.

There were 11 No.3-alarm-or-above fires, in which two notable fatal incidents took place in Kwai Chung. This year's fire prevention campaign will highlight the safe use of flammable substances to help prevent the recurrence of similar tragic incidents.

For special service calls, 19,918 cases were recorded, down 2.4% (495 cases) against 20,413 in 2002, mainly due to a drop of 510 'shut-in-lift' cases due to power or mechanical failure.

To enhance our ability and efficiency in combating major oil fires, a 'Big Gun' capable of discharging as much as 22,800 litres of foam per minute will be procured.

The department has also procured four 6,000-litre foam tenders to replace the existing ones that could only carry 3,000 litres, and use new chemical foam which is effective for 25 years, replacing one which is effective for only 10 years.

The Third Generation Mobilising System will come into operation in phases from late April, boosting the department's efficiency in mobilisation and communication.

The Fire Services (Amendment) Ordinance 2003 and the Fire Services (Fire Hazard Abatement) Regulation came into effect on January 1, giving fire officers more power to investigate cases and combat illegal refuelling.

The department has conducted a comprehensive review of the Dangerous Goods Ordinance to bring it in line with international standards, and strengthen its enforcement power in monitoring dangerous goods. The main body of the amended legislation has been enacted by the Legislative Council and the department is now working on the amendment of the subsidiary regulations with concerned authorities.

Last year, the total number of emergency ambulance calls was 478,109 (an average of 1,310 calls per day) down by 5.5%, or a drop of 27,871 calls, against the 505,980 in 2002.

Some 93.2% of emergency ambulance calls were handled within the target response time of 12 minutes, up 1.44% and exceeding the target of 92.5% by 0.7%.

Mr Lam praised ambulance officers for their professionalism and commitment during the SARS crisis. They dealt with 7,175 confirmed or suspected SARS cases.

A series of measures were introduced to maximise the use of ambulance resources to cope with the enormous demand for the services. The measures included a staggered shift system in 17 ambulance depots to boost the availability of serving ambulances during peak hours.

Transfer of critically-ill patients between hospitals were handled by 12 two-man ambulance crews, releasing more manpower for emergency ambulance attendance.

Mr Lam said the development of paramedic ambulance services is satisfactory, and he is confident of its full implementation by the first quarter of next year as scheduled.