Responding to the recent allegations of water-leakage in the electronic monitor of the breathing apparatus recently introduced, the Fire Service Department Monday maintained that the new equipment is compliant with European Union standards.

Water was found in the screen of the electronic monitor of the new breathing apparatus, after a fire-fighting action in Shau Kei Wan on April 17. The department was questioned as to whether it was wasting HK$45 million on the gear.

Chief Fire Officer Lai Man-hin, during the demonstration at a press conference Monday, removed a rubber case and a small piece of protective plastic from an electronic monitor, and indicated that inside there is a waterproof surface covering the monitoring device. "There might be some water prints in between the plastic piece and the device," he said.

Lai put the electronic monitor into a tank of water, showing the device was still working. He stressed the device was waterproof and met European Union standards.

The monitor, as the main electronic attachment of the new breathing apparatus, is used to calculate the remaining time that the equipment can provide life support, relative to the personal conditioning and circumstances of the fireman, whose physiological data are recorded in the device. It can also sound an alarm, when the oxygen is running out, or 20 seconds after the device is dropped to the ground (when, e.g., the fireman has passed out at the fire site). However, because of technical difficulties, no positioning function is incorporated into this monitoring device.

Lai stated that the electronic monitor is only auxiliary, and that the breathing apparatus should be used with reliance primarily on the mechanical monitor, which indicates the remaining oxygen.

"If the electronic monitor suddenly fails to work at the fire scene, the fireman can still use the mechanical one," Lai said.

All 1,500 new breathing apparatuses have been put in use since April 7, at a cost of HK$25,000 for each and HK$45 million in total.

"So far, the use of the new breathing apparatus has been entirely normal. There have been only a few operational failures," Lai said.

The Fire Service Department is also planning to introduce a telemetry system. The system can oversee electronic monitoring outside the fire site. The system still in its test phase costs about HK$100,000.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/04/2010 page1)