ENG-1968 — Page 226

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Island and Marine Command, and Mainland Command. Hong Kong Island and Marine Command are responsible for fire-fighting and emergency operations on the island of Hong Kong, the off-shore islands, the harbour and surrounding waters. Mainland Command is similarly responsible for Kowloon, the New Territories and the airport.

For the past decade or so emergency calls on the Hong Kong Fire Services have continued to increase each year and this has necessitated repeated adjustment of deployments and organizational structure. It has been necessary this year, for example, because of mounting traffic densities and the intensification of residential and industrial development, to reorganize operational command struc- tures, to increase the existing four territorial divisions to six in order to maintain the capability of reaching all fires within six minutes, and to form separate search and rescue units for each division. It is believed that Hong Kong is the only Commonwealth territory which has a full-time professional Search and Rescue Organization as part of its Fire Service.

The current authorized establishment of the Fire Service is 334 officers and 2,416 other ranks and this is supported by a reserve force of some 720 auxiliaries. It has 232 modern operational vehicles carrying the most up-to-date fire-fighting and rescue equipment. The service also maintains a fleet of six powerful fireboats capable of handling any major fires on board ships lying in the port. The largest of these vessels is the Alexander Grantham of 352 gross tons which is probably the largest fireboat in the world.

The Fire Prevention Bureau is statutorily responsible for the enforcement of fire safety regulations throughout the Colony and for advising and assisting all sections of the community in the abatement and elimination of fire hazards. During the year, the bureau, which maintains a round-the-clock service, made 88,181 inspections of premises and dealt with 1,971 building plans. It also conducted 66 Fire Prevention Courses attended by 3,457 members of the public. In association with kaifongs, Rural Committees and other community agencies the bureau held frequent fire prevention exhibitions and demonstrations.

This year fire prevention campaigns and appeals have been prin- cipally focused on the removal of hazards created by obstructions to