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Sidney Leng

Walter Poon Chung-wa still remembers the 1996 Pat Sing Leng wildfire that killed three students and two teachers on a hiking trail in the New Territories.
Aged 19, he was struck by the courage of the red-helmeted mountain rescuers going to save those stranded by the flames as he watched the drama unfold on television.
Three years later, Poon, then a new college graduate, decided to join the Civil Aid Service’s mountain rescue team because he wanted to contribute to the community.
Watch: Rescuing Hong Kong's stranded hikers

Poon remains with the CAS to this day. He has a full-time job at a non-government organisation, where he modifies wheelchairs for the disabled, but on weekends and public holidays he usually trains with other mountain rescue volunteers and stands by to help in emergencies.
Today’s mountain search and rescue crew under the CAS originated from a team set up by the Royal Air Force.
In the 1960s, the air force dismissed the team owing to a lack of resources but continued to provide equipment and training to volunteers who joined the government’s mountain rescue unit, which was established in 1969.
Divided into eight teams, the crew consists of about 120 volunteers, who have taken at least one year of basic training.
About 10 per cent are women, who are mainly responsible for handling female victims.
Kenix Chiu Pik-ying, a female rescue officer who joined in 2001, works in the police force during the week.
She said although rescuers’ day jobs vary – from teachers to engineers – many of them tend to work for the government, because “we need stable holidays so that we can spend time to volunteer”.
When alerts are received from the police or the Fire Services Department, one team remains at headquarters and a second awaits the Government Flying Service.
If there is a rescue operation when they are not on duty, they must be at headquarters within 45 minutes.
In a typical mountain emergency, where a hiker is trapped in a valley, rescuers will prepare for a common rope rescue.
They will constantly assess the angle of the ropes and ensure there is not too much tension so they will be able to support the weight of both rescuers and the rescued alike.
Each team member must learn to tie at least 10 different knots.
Poon said responding to a death is the most difficult part of being a mountain rescuer.
“We have a belief that we are going to take someone home no matter if they are alive or dead,” he said.
Former CAS mountain rescue officer Tommy Au, who worked in the crew for 15 years before leaving in 2006, will probably never forget his last operation: One of his teammates chose a day when his best friends, including Au, were on duty and killed himself by jumping off Lion’s Rock with a rock attached to his leg.
“I [went to] rescue someone I knew, but there was no chance of survival,” Au said. “As of today, nobody knows why he wanted to (commit) suicide.”
Au still carries on his volunteer work in his post-CAS life.
In 2007, he founded the Countryside Volunteer Search Team to help find missing people who the police are unable to locate.
Of the 10 cases the group has , taken on over the years, there have been four successes.


How wildfire heroes inspired Hong Kong mountain rescuer

Civil Aid Service Tactical Force Mountain Search and Rescue Company Kenix Chiu Pik-ying (Left) and Waiter Poon Chung-wa (Right) pose fora a picture at Civil Aid Service Yuen Tun Camp in Sham Tseng. 08MAY16 SCMP/Kenix Chiu and Walter Poon must learn to tie 10 different knots as part of their training for mountain rescue operations. Photo: Edmond So

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New graduate joined search team after being awestruck by the courage of red-helmeted rescue crew in action at the Pat Sing Leng blaze tragedy


How wildfire heroes inspired Hong Kong mountain rescuer

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New graduate joined search team after being awestruck by the courage of red-helmeted rescue crew in action at the Pat Sing Leng blaze tragedy

New graduate joined search team after being awestruck by the courage of red-helmeted rescue crew in action at the Pat Sing Leng blaze tragedy