XN000022-1996-06-05 — Page 50

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Reply:

All Fire Services Department ambulances are equipped with radio telephones for communication with the Fire Services Communication Centre (FSCC). For incidents involving multiple casualties, a Mobile Casualty Treatment Centre (MCTC) with portable radio sets will be despatched to the scene. This equipment will be used by the attending ambulance officers. These radio sets are provided only to crew leaders to ensure effective emergency communications and to avoid excessive radio traffic.

In an emergency situation, it is essential that communications are simple, direct and co-ordinated through a single centre, in order to ensure that the emergency response can be well commanded. Mobile phones are not suitable for operational use in these situations because they can provide communications only between individual officers and the FSCC.

The FSD and the MTRC have well-established and practised procedures for conducting rescue operations for various types of emergencies in MTR stations. Ambulance crews should, in the first instance, make use of the telephones available on the platforms in station control rooms, or in the other telephone facilities available from the MTRC. If a situation is of such a scale that centrally-co-ordinated communications are necessary, ambulance crews will use the portable radios provided on MCTC, operating on repeaters for underground work.

We have no plan to acquire additional walkie-talkies and mobile phones. The Fire Services Department will, however, continue to conduct regular reviews on the effectiveness of its communication equipment to ensure that it meets the Department's operational requirements.

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