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The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, today (March 16) officiated at the Opening Ceremony of the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy and "Metropolitan Symposium on Emergency Response". The Academy marks a new era in the training development of the Fire Services Department (FSD).
Other officiating guests are the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok; the Permanent Secretary for Security, Mr Joshua Law; the Director of Fire Services, Mr Lai Man-hin; the Deputy Director of Fire Services, Mr Li Kin-yat; and the Commandant of the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy, Mr Ngai Tak-yung.
The Academy covers an area of 158 000 square metres, and provides 526 residential training places for both newly recruited and serving fire and ambulance personnel. The diversified and advanced simulation training facilities of the Academy enhance FSD personnel's professional knowledge and rescue techniques in handling incidents involving railway, tunnel, vessel, aircraft and fueling facility. The specialised training facilities for high angle rescue, urban search and rescue and compartment fire behavior training strengthen the FSD personnel's capability of tackling large-scale incidents. In addition, fire and ambulance personnel will have more opportunities to be trained together, hence improving their response and coordination capability in emergencies.
After the opening ceremony, the Chief Executive and other officiating guests toured around the training facilities of the Academy and watched demonstrations of various training.
The ceremony today also kicked off the three-day "Metropolitan Symposium on Emergency Response". The Symposium is jointly organised by the FSD, the Institution of Fire Engineers (Hong Kong Branch) and the Ambulance Service Institute (Hong Kong Branch) with the theme of "Passing on Expertise", which emphasises on the importance of training for new generations of emergency service providers.
The Symposium also seeks to foster greater understanding of the approach, skills and best practices adopted by emergency service providers throughout the world, so that they can respond to disasters more effectively and become more resilient to disasters. About 250 fire and ambulance service professionals from 14 countries and regions participate in the Symposium for in-depth discussions and experience sharing on emergency response approach, firefighting technology and emergency ambulance service.
Ends/Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Issued at HKT 13:45
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