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with an average of 500 fire hazard complaints or requests for assistance each month. This overall work-load increase of 54 per cent is an encouraging reward for the fire prevention campaigns sponsored by kaifongs, other community agencies and the bureau.
The Fire Service has a strength of 267 officers and 2,250 other ranks and is supported by a reserve force of 720 auxiliaries. It has 223 modern operational vehicles. One new fire boat was commis- sioned during the year, bringing the total to six.
The department controls the Colony's ambulance service which is a semi-autonomous division. The service has 56 ambulances and during the year it carried 68,442 patients.
A Fire Service building programme initiated in 1960 has reached its peak during the year. Four fire stations, two ambulance depots, a new headquarters building and a training school were completed.
During the disturbances of May to July, Fire Service resources were deployed according to a pre-determined emergency defence scheme. Many fires dealt with during this period were attributable to demonstrators. They generally consisted of rubbish and vehicle fires and the Service was able to meet all demands without undue strain. Firemen were frequently confronted by belligerent crowds and stoned, but there were no serious injuries or damage. In September, a fire officer was killed and four firemen injured by a bomb explosion outside Eastern fire station in Wan Chai.
In the technological field, 14 members of the Service were success- ful in the 1967 examinations for the diploma of the Institution of Fire Engineers. There are now 57 holders of this diploma in the Service.
THE PREVENTIVE SERVICE
The Preventive Service of the Commerce and Industry Department is a uniformed and disciplined force responsible for those measures which in a customs-controlled port are handled by a Customs and Excise Department. Being a free port Hong Kong imposes a duty on only five categories of imported goods. This is matched by an excise tax on the same items locally manufactured. The Preventive Service enforces legislation controlling the import, export and manufacture of dutiable commodities.