LCQ8: FSD's Third Generation Mobilizing System

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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):

Question:

In May 2000, the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council approved a provision of $718.6 million for developing the Third Generation Communication and Mobilizing System in the Fire Services Communication Centre. It has been reported that the new system was officially launched last month in the New Territories, operating in parallel with the old system. However, a number of problems emerged and led to chaos in the deployment of ambulances. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a) the problems that have occurred since the launching of the new system and their causes, and the remedial measures adopted;

(b) the reasons for arranging parallel operation of the old and new systems; and given its problems, whether the full operation date of the new system will be postponed; if so, of the additional resources involved; and

Reply:

Madam President,

Our plan is to commission the Third Generation Mobilizing System (TGMS) by phases and the system started operation in the New Territories Fire Command (NTFC) on March 1, 2005. We have since been fine-tuning the system in the light of the practical experience gained in the NTFC and staff response. Taking into account such experience and the results of the fine-tuning, we will decide on the timetable for commissioning the new system in the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Fire Commands.

(a) From running the TGMS in the NTFC, we have identified a number of technical and hardware problems and taken remedial actions. The main examples include:

Central system

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Some parameter settings in the central system had affected the accuracy of the search and dispatch of fire services resources. For example, the TGMS constantly monitors and records the location of all fire appliances and ambulances through the Automatic Vehicle Location System for emergency dispatch. However, the design of the vehicle positioning devices allows for a deviation of 2 to 20 metres. The experience of running the TGMS in the NTFC shows that this deviation might cause the central computer to register inaccurate vehicle stand-by positions.

In addition, upon receipt of an emergency call, the central system will use the incident location as the centre of an initial search algorithm to search for available fire appliances/ambulances within the initial search area which could reach the incident location within the target response time. In practice, however, it was found that some vehicles outside the initial search area, owing to particular road configurations, could have reached the site of incident within a shorter response time, but were not dispatched because they were located outside the initial search area.

The Fire Services Department (FSD) and the system contractor have rectified the above problems by fine-tuning the relevant parameter settings.

Individual sub-system

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The Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) is a sophisticated touch-screen computer installed on fire appliances and ambulances. It facilitates the retrieval and dissemination of operational information between frontline staff and the TGMS Communication Centre. During the early stage of its use, FSD has encountered some hardware and technical problems related to the MDT, including:

* The MDT installed on an ambulance/fire appliance is not a standalone device but has to be operated in connection with other equipment such as Vehicle Positioning System and Wireless Digital Network. The vibration of a running ambulance/fire appliance may loosen the connection between the MDT and other equipment, and may even cause damage to the hard disks of the MDT, thus affecting its normal operation. After review, the contractor has replaced all defective hardware and equipment. Suitable mounting devices have been installed to secure the MDTs, thus protecting them from the vibration of running vehicles.

* Before the commissioning of the new system in the NTFC, FSD had provided training to and organised seminars for relevant staff. After the commissioning of the new system, FSD has held more than 10 discussion forums with staff to receive their feedback on their experience of operating the new system and to further elaborate on the appropriate operation procedures of the MDTs. To address the common problems of MDT operation, a simplified operation manual has also been issued to frontline staff for quick reference.

* The MDTs need to operate on a 24-hour basis. Standalone batteries with sufficient capacity are therefore provided in fire appliances/ambulances. However, the function of some of those batteries had dropped owing to their having been installed for a considerable period of time. All the defective batteries have since been replaced by FSD and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. Additional battery chargers have been procured to facilitate the recharging of batteries when fire appliances/ambulances are on stand-by at the fire stations and ambulance depots. In addition, steps have been taken to reinforce the knowledge of frontline staff on the proper care and maintenance of batteries.

* At different stages during the implementation period, the contractor had installed different versions of MDT software on individual fire appliances and ambulances. Owing to the incompatibilities of different software versions, the MDTs might not function smoothly under certain specific circumstances. This problem has now been fixed.

(b) Since the TGMS started operation in the NTFC on March 1, 2005, the Second Generation Mobilizing System (SGMS) has ceased to handle emergency calls in the NTFC but has been on stand-by mode, so that in case the new system encountered any insurmountable problems, emergency dispatch could still be undertaken by the old system. Meanwhile, emergency calls for the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Fire Commands are still undertaken by the SGMS.

Since the SGMS and TGMS are being operated simultaneously to handle emergency calls in Hong Kong/Kowloon and the New Territories, FSD can no longer flexibly deploy manpower resources between the two Communication Centres in cases where there is a sudden surge in the number of calls in any one of the Centres. Therefore, additional manpower is needed to address this situation. The expenditure involved was $760,000 in March 2005.

Although we have identified a number of problems in the initial stage of commissioning, the efficiency of the new system is improving after fine-tuning and since frontline staff are now better-acquainted with the operation of the system. If the new system continues to run smoothly in the NTFC, FSD anticipates that the new system would be implemented in the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Fire Commands by the middle of this year.

(c) Performance of the new system has shown considerable improvement over the old system in the accuracy of search and dispatch of fire services resources. In addition, automation of certain procedures, such as automatic turn-out broadcast, reduces the workload of the staff in the Communication Centres. The new system also enables frontline staff to update operational data directly through equipment installed on board fire appliances and ambulances without the assistance of staff in the Communication Centres.

We expect that when the relevant staff are familiarised with the mode of operation of the new system and when all necessary fine-tuning is done, the new system will be able to yield its intended efficiency and functionality in full and cater to the rise in the number of emergency calls in future without the need to increase the number of staff in the Fire Services Communication Centre.

Ends/Wednesday, April 27, 2005

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