False alarms up as elderly ignore rules
Unexpected guests keep dropping in for dinner with senior citizens - firemen summoned by over-sensitive smoke detectors.
The Fire Services Department is reviewing the use of the detectors, which have been fitted in Housing Department homes for 4,500 senior citizens and are connected directly to fire stations.
The review follows an increasing number of false alarms that have sent firemen rushing to the same units sometimes several times a week.
A Housing Department spokesman said the false alarms were mostly caused by elderly residents ignoring rules introduced after the detectors were installed.
They include a ban on smoking and a requirement for residents to keep their kitchen doors shut while they are cooking. The use of incense to repel mosquitos is also forbidden.
Lai Po-lin, 87, who has lived in a flat in Sha Tin's Kwong Yuen Estate for seven years, said she had been frightened the first time the alarm rang while she was cooking.
'I was frying a fish when the alarm suddenly rang. It scared me to death. A few minutes later, a team of firemen armed with tools knocked on my door.
'They told me I had forgotten to shut the kitchen door and the smoke had stimulated the smoke detector.'
