FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1986
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NEW FIRE STATION IN CENTRAL OPENED
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A NEW FIRE STATION TO REPLACE THE OLD GARDEN ROAD FIRE STATION IN CENTRAL WAS OFFICIALLY OPENED BY CHIEF FIRE OFFICER, MR JOHN BREDBURY THIS (FRIDAY) MORNING.
THE STATION, HE SAID, HAD A PRIME ROLE TO PLAY DEALING WITH FIRES AND OTHER EMERGENCIES IN THE BUSY DISTRICT.
THE NUMBER OF FIRE AND SPECIAL SERVICE CALLS WERE ON AVERAGE ABOUT 80 PER MONTH, WHILE ATTACHED AMBULANCES RESPONDED TO MORE THAN 2 500 CALLS SINCE THE STATION WAS COMMISSIONED LAST NOVEMBER.
+ THE NEED FOR THIS STATION AND ITS EMERGENCY CAPABILITY HAS ALREADY BEEN AMPLY PROVED AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY WELL INTO THE 21ST CENTURY, MR BREDBURY SAID.
RECALLING THE HISTORY OF THE STATION, HE SAID, IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST ELEGANT BUILDINGS ALONG THE HONG KONG WATERFRONT WHEN HE SAW IT IN 1962. IT WAS THEN LOCATED IN CENTRAL, BOUNDED BY CONNAUGHT ROAD, DES VOEUX ROAD CENTRAL, VICTORIA AND JUBILEE STREETS.
+ THE ORIGINAL STATION BUILDING SERVED THE COMMUNITY AND GRACE THAT WATERFRONT SITE FOR 55 YEARS FROM JANUARY 1926 UNTIL LATE 1981, WHEN IT WAS DEMOLISHED TO BECOME AN MTR WORK SITE, PRIOR TO RE-DEVELOPMENT.
+ IT HAD BEEN OVERTAKEN BY TIME AND WITH THE DISADVANTAGES OF ONE WAY ROAD SYSTEMS, IT WAS NO LONGER A PRACTICAL SITE FOR A FIRE STATION.
+PRIOR TO THE DEMOLITION OF THE CENTRAL FIRE STATION, SHEUNG WAN FIRE STATION WAS OPENED IN THE WEST WHILE TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION FOR ANOTHER STATION WAS FOUND IN GARDEN ROAD IN THE EAST.
+ AFTER FOUR YEARS IN THE TEMPORARY PREMISES, THIS STATION WAS OCCUPIED AND COMMISSIONED IN NOVEMBER 1985.+
THE NEW STATION ON COTTON TREE DRIVE HOUSES THREE FIRE APPLIANCES AND TWO AMBULANCES.
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