ENG-1995 — Page 345

PUBLIC ORDER

Investigation and Prosecution of Immigration Offences

A total of 23 883 charges were laid against persons who had committed various immigration offences. These included remaining in Hong Kong illegally, breach of conditions of stay, making false statements or representations, and using or possessing forged documents.

Deportation and Removal

The department processes deportation and removal orders. During the year, 10 475 persons who had been convicted of possessing or trafficking in dangerous drugs, deception, theft, forgery and other criminal offences were considered for deportation and 472 were deported. Another 1 172 persons were removed from Hong Kong under removal orders. These included 19 illegal immigrants, mostly of Chinese origin, and 1 153 persons who had breached their condition of stay.

Fire Services

The primary roles of the Fire Services Department are to fight fires, protect life and property in case of fire and other calamity, to provide emergency ambulance services and to give fire protection advice to the public.

The department had an establishment of 8 160 staff, comprising 7 411 uniformed and 749 civilian members. It has one of the best reputations of any fire brigade in the world, with well-trained personnel, advanced communications systems, and modern appliances and equipment.

The department responded to 31 014 fire calls, 21 420 special service calls and 425 343 ambulance calls during 1995, representing an average of 1 309 calls a day. July and August were a particularly busy time, with three No. 4 alarm fires, a prolonged ship fire and numerous landslides throughout the territory.

Notwithstanding these heavy operational commitments, the department made a variety of significant advances during the year. These included increasing its contacts with its mainland counterparts through visits and work attachments: the improved exchange of views and experiences led to the first cross-border joint fire exercise with the Shenzhen Fire Brigade; the upgrading of telecommunications systems to improve efficiency; the completion of the last phase of transferring non-emergency ambulance services to the Hospital Authority and the commissioning of an operational research consultancy on the emergency ambulance service.

Fire Suppression

Of the 31 014 fire calls received during the year, 43 were classified as major fires of No. 3 alarm and above. Unwanted alarms, caused mainly by faulty automatic alarm systems or their poor positioning, contributed to about 46 per cent of the total number of fire calls. Careless handling or disposal of smoking materials is still the major cause of fires, totalling 5 035 cases in all, followed by accidents involving the preparation of foodstuffs and electrical faults, which accounted for 2 558 and 1 608 cases, respectively.

Fires claimed 23 lives and 594 injuries, including 64 firemen, and 1 954 people were rescued by fire personnel. Notable fires during the year included a No. 3 alarm at a Yeung Uk Road bedspace apartment on March 23, killing three occupants; a No. 4 alarm at the State Theatre Building, North Point, on May 13, injuring five firemen

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