Interview with the Director of Fire Services｜Yang Enjian: Six Strategies to Deal with the Sixth Wave of Epidemic Firefighters Driving Ambulances

The fifth wave of the new crown epidemic broke out in Hong Kong at the beginning of this year. In an exclusive interview, Director of the Fire Services Department, Mr Yeung Yan-kin, pointed out that the Fire Services Department faced two "fronts" at that time, and the challenges were unprecedented. A contingency plan to increase front-line manpower and speed up ambulance rotation, so as to "save a minute for each procedure, add an extra minute".

During his tenure, Yang Enjian aims to promote scientific and technological rescue. Next year, the fourth-generation dispatching system will be launched. According to the actual road conditions, the fastest vehicles will be dispatched to Po. The prescription has also introduced fire-fighting robots and drones. Field 3D images and reconnaissance gas to assist fire search and rescue efficiency.

Further reading:

Interview with the Director of Fire Services｜Introduction of fire-fighting robots and unmanned aerial vehicles

The Director of Fire Services, Mr Yeung En-kin, said that in dealing with the sixth wave of the epidemic, the Fire Services Department has learned from experience and formulated six strategies to deal with it.

(Photo by Luo Junhao)

Six measures of the Fire Services Department to deal with the sixth wave of the epidemic

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Arrange non-frontline personnel to be transferred to the forefront

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1,800 firefighters trained to drive ambulances

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Deploy an ambulance to the nearest decontamination center for disinfection

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Decontamination centre employs outsourced cleaners to allow ambulance workers to rest and satisfy their hunger

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Research to introduce quick-drying disinfectant

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Enable the fourth generation dispatch system

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A quarter of the ambulance staff were diagnosed with 2,700 ambulance calls in one day

In the early days of the fifth wave of the epidemic, many patients did not ask for help and waited for more than 30 hours to call for an ambulance.

Yang Enjian, who took office in March this year, said that the challenges of the epidemic at that time were unprecedented. At the peak, 866 ambulancemen were diagnosed, accounting for 26% of the ambulance staff. There were a maximum of 2,700 ambulance calls in a single day, half of which were new coronary pneumonia cases. Ambulances and ambulance crews need to be decontaminated after transporting patients. The ambulance work of about one hour in the past has increased by 1.5 times or two hours, which makes the hands and ambulances nervous.

The Fire Services Department is also responsible for transporting the initially diagnosed people to the isolation center. The number of people who have been initially diagnosed has risen to more than 1,700 a day, and more than 4,000 people have been rescued every day.

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Train 1,800 firefighters to drive an ambulance when necessary

In response to the sixth wave of the epidemic, Yang Enjian pointed out that the Fire Services Department has learned from experience. In terms of manpower allocation, the response mechanism is divided into multiple levels, and different response measures are activated depending on the number of confirmed cases, ambulance calls, and call time. Frontline personnel, such as Fire and Ambulance Academy instructors, community preparedness education staff and ambulance headquarters logistical support, have been deployed to the forefront; 1,800 firefighters have also been trained to be qualified to drive ambulances.

All programs are counted in seconds, and every program saves a minute for an extra minute.

Director of Fire Services, Mr Yeung Yan-kin

Hire cleaners to disinfect ambulances and develop quick-drying disinfectant

In terms of speeding up the rotation of ambulances, the Fire Services Department will set up a temporary decontamination center near the hospital. Taking Queen Elizabeth Hospital as an example, in the past, ambulances had to go to Kowloon Tong or Homantin ambulance stations for decontamination, but to King's Park Stadium for decontamination. The distance to the center can be shortened by half, saving about 20 minutes; the decontamination center employs outsourced cleaners for disinfection, so that the ambulance staff can gain time to rest and satisfy their hunger; the prescription is also studying the introduction of quick-drying disinfectant, which will be reduced from 15 minutes to 5 minutes.

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The fourth-generation dispatch system will be activated to speed up the dispatch of vehicles

Three months after taking office, Yang Enjian pointed out that the goal of his tenure is to promote the fire department's technological rescue. Among them, the fourth-generation dispatching system will be applied in 2023/24. The system uses the cloud and data to calculate real-time traffic conditions. The fastest fire or ambulance to the scene, "the previous system only calculated the speed limit on the road, and then dispatched vehicles. The new system provides real-time road conditions to estimate the time required." He believes that the efficiency of dispatch and fire fighting and rescue will definitely be improved.

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