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PUBLIC ORDER
The service, namely the Fire Prevention Bureau, is statutorily responsible for the enforcement of fire safety regulations throughout Hong Kong to advise and assist all sections of the community in the abatement and elimination of fire hazards. During the year, the Fire Prevention Bureau, which maintains a round-the-clock service, made 190,893 inspections of premises and dealt with 5,503 building plans. It also conducted fire prevention courses attended by 9,768 members of the public. In association with kaifongs, rural committees and other community agencies, frequent fire prevention exhibitions and demonstrations were conducted.
A total of 9,962 calls for assistance were received in the year, including three 'disaster alarms', which is the highest classification for an incident. The first disaster occurred early in the year and involved the fire and subsequent sinking of the 'Seawise University' (the former 'Queen Elizabeth'). Fortunately no lives were lost. However, the ship became a total loss and now lies a battered and rusting hulk in the harbour. The second and third disasters occurred on the same day in June within a few hours of each other. These were located on either side of the harbour and resulted from extremely heavy rainfall over a period of three days. At Sau Mau Ping resettlement estate in Kowloon, a mud landslide engulfed a resite squatter area resulting in a death toll of 71; a few hours later a landslide, which claimed a further 67 lives, occurred on Hong Kong Island destroying and damaging several reinforced concrete buildings including a 13-storey block of flats.
The Ambulance Command is an integral part of the department, currently manning 65 ambulances. Each month during the year, an average of over 9,245 patients/casualties were carried by the service. As anticipated, ambulance calls in- creased, with the total for the year being 94,221, resulting in increased establishment of the Ambulance Command and an intensive training programme being instituted to improve the existing high standards of first aid/nursing and rescue techniques.
Four new fire stations and one ambulance depot were completed and came into operation during the year. Other stations are now nearing completion and larger divisional stations have been included in the Fire Service's development programme for the years ahead.
Preventive Service
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The Hong Kong Preventive Service is the uniformed and disciplined division of the Commerce and Industry Department. The present strength of the service is 13 gazetted officers, 288 inspectorate and 754 rank and file, under the overall command of an Assistant Commissioner.
Duties are imposed on four categories of goods, namely alcoholic liquors, tobacco, hydrocarbon oils and table waters. The service is charged with responsibility for safe- guarding revenue derived from these commodities and to this end, physical controls governing import, export, manufacture, storage and sale of dutiable goods are carried out through excise verification centres located throughout Hong Kong. In turn, these are supported by mobile patrols designed to combat illegal distillation of alcohol and misuse of industrial diesel oil. Seizures and arrests continued to be made in Hong