Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government was
committed to enhancing rescue training for front-line firefighters
and maintaining the high efficiency and quality of rescue services,
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose S K Lee said on
Friday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the West Kowloon Rescue
Training Center of the Fire Services Department, Lee said the HKSAR
government had been working hard to provide people with a safe and
stable living environment. One major task was to provide timely
rescue services for people who were involved in accidents.
"To maintain the high efficiency and quality of its rescue
services, the Fire Services Department has spent 96 million Hong
Kong dollars (about US$12.39 million) in building the West Kowloon
Rescue Training Center to provide state-of-the-art training
facilities for front-line rescue personnel," Lee said.
More than 2,000 firefighters have received training at the
center since its commissioning in November, 2006.
"I am confident that they will have their fire-fighting and
rescue skills further upgraded after the training," he said.
The nine-storey training center is equipped with advanced rescue
and fire-fighting training facilities, which include live fire
training chamber that simulated training zones for hotels, domestic
premises, factories and karaoke establishments.
Lee said an advanced infrared sensor system was installed in
various training areas to enable firefighters to undergo intensive
training in a safe environment.
He said the Fire Services Department would continue to acquire
fire appliances and rescue equipment on a need basis, and to put up
fire stations in newly developed areas and in old areas that needed
them, with a view to strengthening the department's fire- fighting
and rescue capabilities.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)