PUBLIC ORDER
Road in June, in which 12 workers were killed; and an incident involving a China Airlines jumbo jet in November, in which 296 passengers and crew were rescued from the wrecked plane at sea without major injuries.
Ambulance Services
It was a busy year for the Ambulance Service, which handled a total of 442 304 emergency and non-emergency calls an average of 1 212 calls per day
providing assistance to
560 358 patients and casualties.
The launching of a pilot scheme for a paramedic ambulance service in June marked a new era for the service, enhancing its standard of pre-hospital care for the community. Three paramedic ambulances were put on a trial run for a year, with the aim of eventually operating 33 paramedic ambulances round-the-clock. During the year, two paramedic courses were conducted locally for selected ambulance personnel by visiting instructors from the Paramedic Academy from British Columbia, Canada, in collaboration with Hospital Authority physicians. A total of six ambulance officers and 35 ambulance supervisors successfully completed the courses and became qualified.
Meanwhile, plans to hive-off the non-emergency ambulance service to the Hospital Authority in phases will be implemented from mid-March next year. The arrangement will allow ambulance personnel to undertake the more urgent and serious cases, and will provide a more cost-effective ambulance service.
Communications
The computerised mobilising and communications system in the Fire Services Com- munication Centre enables all movements of fire appliances, ambulances, fire boats and officers to be kept up-to-date, so that appropriate appliances, equipment and manpower can be despatched to cope with different emergencies quickly and efficiently.
The system helps the department to achieve a better prescribed graded response time (GRT) to all fire and emergency calls. During the year, 88.9 per cent of all structural fire calls and 92.5 per cent of emergency ambulance calls were attended within the GRT and the target travel time, respectively.
Fire Prevention
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The department is responsible for formulating and enforcing fire safety regulations and policies, as well as assisting and advising the public on fire protection measures and the abatement of fire hazards.
The Fire Protection Bureau places great emphasis on public education on fire prevention. With the help of the Information Services Department, a major publicity campaign on electricity safety was launched during the year. In addition, fire officers gave 428 talks to 17 167 people from different sectors of the community. These were supplemented by exhibitions and demonstrations.
During the year, the number of fire hazard complaints totalled 5004, indicating a growing public concern over fire safety and an increasing awareness of the services provided by the department.
Fire Services personnel made 72 562 inspections of all types of premises, and issued 3 329 abatement notices for the removal of fire hazards during the year. There were 206 prosecutions in cases of non-compliance, with fines amounting to about $0.8 million. In
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