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The Hong Kong Fire Services Department
Reference Hong Kong Fire Services review 1989 and 1990
1.
The Hong Kong Fire Services Department comprises both
fire rescue and ambulance services. There are some 7,000
uniformed staff and some 700 non uniformed staff. Planning
for the integration of fire stations and ambulance depots in
Hong Kong's infrastructure is generally good. This is
particularly possible in the New Towns where the Government
is planning infrastructure from scratch. Both services are
generally appreciated and have a high degree of competence
and good response times by international standards.
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2. The current main issues of concern in the Fire Services
are similar to those for other civil servants the security of their pensions post-1997. In addition, Fire Services staff have been lobbying hard for a reduction in their
working hours to 48 hours per week. This is a long term aim
but the fact that the Hong Kong Government is having to
concentrate on new airport expenditure, means that the
resources are unlikely to be available for this for many
years to come. Recently approximately 1,000 off duty
firemen marched to the Government Secretariat to hand in a
petition on this matter.
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