fire fighting arrangements having been made, the constant lectures on fire prevention given to the squatters and the quick arrival of the Fire Brigade.
4. The Brigade was called out on two occasions by the Civil Aviation Department to render assistance in aircraft crash fires. On one occasion, a R.A.F. aircraft crashlanded immediately outside the aerodrome and burst into flames after it had hit a nearby farm-house. The pilot and a farmer were killed. The other crash involved a "Lockheed Neptune" type bomber aircraft of the United States Navy which crashed and caught fire after a faulty landing. The 14 occupants comprising 7 crew members and 7 United States service personnel were all able to escape from the plane before it caught fire. Three of them received minor injuries.
5.
The Brigade were called out to 13 fires on ships, most of which were not of a serious nature. On one occasion, assistance was rendered by the Brigade's fire boat to a Chinese type cargo junk which developed a leak whilst on her way to the Colony. It was possible to refloat her by pumping, in order to effect temporary repairs before being towed to a slipway.
6.
67 special service calls were answered by the Brigade, these included landslides, house collapses, drowning and other miscellaneous incidents, such as rescuing trapped persons or animals. In one case at about 4.30 p.m. on 8th September, 1953, the Brigade was called to a house collapse involving two 3-storey tenement buildings under construction at Wuhu Street, Kowloon. The operation proved to be extremely difficult due to the collapse of a large number of reinforced cement concrete blocks with inter-mingled iron rods. Oxy-Acetylene cutting sets and a mobile crane had to be brought into use. The Squatter Re- settlement Division of the Urban Services Department and the Public Works Department rendered valuable assistance in this operation by providing squads of coolies to remove the debris and to assist in freeing those trapped. A total of 12 persons lost their lives and 25 were injured in this incident.
3