A firefighter demonstrates techniques in front of a special bus modified for fire safety education on Tuesday. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Nearly one third of structures fail to meet standards set by Fire Services Department

Fire safety standards in about one third of industrial buildings in Hong Kong are unsatisfactory, the director of Fire Services said Tuesday.

Inspections on some 2,000 industrial buildings all over the city found only 69 percent met fire safety standards, said Director of Fire Services Gregory Lo Chun-hung.

The inspections were sparked by public concern over a four-alarm fire in Cheung Sha Wan on March 8, 2010, Lo said at the department's year-end review at the Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters.

The unqualified buildings lacked proper fire services installations and fire safety management, or had fire hazards, illegal structures and unapproved changes in usage, he said.

Still, the pass rate was better than shown in a city-wide survey in 1998, of which the satisfaction rate was merely 47 percent, Lo said.

He did not mention any other special inspection on industrial buildings between 1998 and 2010.

The department is working with the Security Bureau to bring in new measures to improve safety in old industrial buildings to push compliance rates higher, Lo said.

He said the department will take delivery of several equipment upgrades in response to previous hard lessons.

New firefighter apparel have been delivered and new digital walkie-talkies will be deployed by mid-2011.

The changeover comes in response to the findings of the Coroner's Court that the department's outmoded analogue communications system was ineffective in smoky indoor environments and led to the deaths of two firefighters in the five-alarm fire breaking out in Cornwall Court in Mong Kok on Aug 10, 2008.

New breathing apparatus with digital readouts showing usage and remaining oxygen levels have also been delivered, in line with another recommendation by the Coroner's Court.

The department has retrofitted the interior of a double-decker bus to resemble a housing unit which will be used as a moving station to teach visitors how to escape or hole up in a fire.

The department has invested in a life detection device which can sense survivors' breathing up to 15 feet or motion up to 20 feet in rubble.

Two golden retrievers have been enlisted to help urban search and rescue units to find trapped victims.

The addition of the dogs to the department comes in response to a building collapse on Ma Tau Wai Road in Kowloon on Jan 29, 2010, when four persons were killed, Lo said.

The department received 40,604 fire calls in 2010, 14 percent up from the figure in 2009. Sixteen of them are of No 3 or above alarm, in contrast to a total of 10 cases reported in 2009. Ten civilians and a firefighter died as a result of fire incidents in 2010. Special service calls rose by 7 percent to 26,859 in 2010.

China Daily

(HK Edition 01/26/2011 page1)