Fire_Services_1965-1966 — Page 16

(ii) Shau Kei Wan Fire Station.

(iii) A new fire station in Smithfield, Kennedy Town to replace the

present obsolete premises in Belcher Street.

(iv) Ngau Chi Wan Fire Station.

(v) Morrison Hill Ambulance Depot.

(vi) Ma Tau Chung Ambulance Depot.

48. The Fire Service building programme as currently approved for the next 10 years is shown in Appendix XI of this report.

49. The criterion in Fire Service planning is that fire stations should be so deployed and in sufficient numbers as will reasonably ensure the arrival of fire appliances at any address within six minutes. of the time of call. In common with other cities, ever mounting traffic problems and the associated traffic flow diversions by way of one way streets, flyovers, under-passes, etc., all conspire against the six minute. response principle in Hong Kong. Long before the current building programme is completed it will be necessary to interpose additional stations between those extant or already in the programme, and pre- liminary planning for this was started during the year. Commanders of fire services all over the world are haunted by this problem, and the Firemaster of South-Eastern Scotland Fire Brigade stated in his annual report for the year ended 31st December, 1965 that horse drawn fire appliances probably reached fires faster than modern fire appliances. Certainly the old coolie-drawn manual fire pump could reach a fire in, say, D'Aguilar Street from the Principal Fire Station on Des Voeux Road quicker than modern appliances can do from the same station.

50. The accelerating trend towards mammoth blocks of property also conspires against the six minute response. Appliances may, indeed, reach the address within six minutes but the location of the fire and the manhandling of equipment often considerably extends the time of arrival at the actual scene of a fire by virtue of the distance/height of the incident from the nearest point accessible to fire appliances. The remedies for this are not easy to determine, but it appears that the time is not too far distant when consideration will have to be given to the enactment of legislation prescribing whole time professional fire patrols for all multi-occupancy premises above a certain volume or which have sections X minutes pedestrian travelling time from the nearest vehicular access especially in the case of places of public assembly, e.g. theatres, restaurants, etc.

10