bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

More cadet firemen are finding they cannot stand the pressure in the control room and are quitting,   with the department reporting a staffing loss of between 20 and 40 per cent among the novices in the past three years.
Director of Fire Services Gregory Lo Chun-hung said the pressure extended to all control-room staff, which had seen  an unnatural wastage rate of 5.3 per cent in the past 10 years, compared with 0.83 per cent for ambulancemen and 0.29 per cent for firefighters.
He said 208 fire officers were now deployed in control rooms and they were responsible for emergency ambulance and fire calls and mobilising  frontline firefighters.
The starting salary of a trained control room officer is  HK$18,465.
Mr Lo said control rooms were one of the most stressful sections as they had to handle both the public and sophisticated electronic devices around the clock.
'It is particularly difficult to employ when the economy prospers,' he said.  'Our extraordinary demand on physical fitness and good eyesight adds further obstacles.'
The department would recruit at least 300 staff in 2008-09 to fill vacancies caused by natural wastage, including 167 firefighters, 104 ambulancemen and 33 station officers.
Mr Lo was speaking at the department's year-end briefing yesterday, during which the department's latest equipment was demonstrated.
The director said the 241 ambulances in the city had been in service for an average of 7.65 years.
The 35 oldest ones would be replaced by the end of the year.
The department received a total of 31,638 fire calls last year, a drop of 4.9 per cent on 2006. But emergency ambulance calls reached a record high of 573,657 last year, a rise of 6.25 per cent, and chief ambulance officer Ken Mak Kwai-pui expected the figure to increase further.
'The ageing population means more people will be demanding ambulance services,' he said, adding that  only one abuse report was received last year.
Mr Mak said a consultancy report on implementing the priority despatch system, which grades emergency calls, was in its closing stages. Discussions would be held with the Security Bureau on the best option.
The department has assigned two officers to draft rescue proposals for the  Olympic equestrian events in August.
A HK$320,000 shower unit for nuclear and biochemical decontamination will be installed at the venue and Mr Mak expects more than 10 ambulances will be on standby.
'Some equestrian events, such as the showjumping, can be dangerous and we have provided necessary training to ambulancemen to deal with spinal  fractures,' he said.



Record number of cadet firemen cannot stand heat in control room