Fire_Services_1964-1965 — Page 13

BUILDINGS AND ACCOMMODATION

30. There has been little change in the overall situation as reported in my 1963/64 Report nor is any likely until the extensive Fire and Ambulance Services building programme gathers momentum which on present indications is unlikely before 1966.

31. Clearly, since the 10 year Fire and Ambulance Services Develop- ment Plan was approved in 1960, this is the one area where resources have failed to keep pace with need.

TRAINING (INTERNAL)

32. In a highly industrialized and rapidly growing community such as Hong Kong the standard of technical knowledge required by members of the Fire Service continues to increase.

33. Members of any Fire Service (and ours is no exception) can extinguish fires either cheaply or expensively; the differential between these two extremes can (very largely) be measured in terms of training.

34. There are now more than 7,000 'high blocks' in Hong Kong, many with populations ranging from 3,000 to 12,000 persons.

35. The mixed occupancy factors in tens of thousand of buildings in Hong Kong produce life and fire hazards of an unique proportion, presenting always the omni-present risk of life losses on unprecedented scales. It is a sad commentary on our times that the era of fire resistant construction in Hong Kong has served to increase, rather than decrease hazards to life, by transferring the medium from fatal burns to mass asphyxiation.

36. Scarcity of land and the vital need to obtain maximum develop- ment therefrom has served to provide the Fire Service in Hong Kong with problems which do not exist even in cities in other countries where 'tall blocks' have been a familiar sight since the turn of this century.

37. It is not surprising therefore that we in the Department view with continuing apprehension the relatively low level of technical knowledge possessed by the ordinary rank and file members who form the greater part of our resources.

38. This is all the more distressing in that we cannot make any substantial headway against deficiencies in training until the Central Fire Training School, Sek Kong is commissioned.

7