SINGAPORE: The number of non-emergency calls to
Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) Emergency Ambulance Service
(EAS) rose 40.5 per cent - from 2,131 cases in 2010 to 2,995 cases
in 2011.
The data was released in SCDF's annual Fire,
Ambulance and Enforcement Statistics.
SCDF's EAS responded to 131,806 calls in 2011, an
increase of 5 per cent from 125,603 calls in 2010.
Emergency calls made up 96 per cent of the total calls responded.
The remaining 2.3 per cent were non-emergency calls and another 2.2
per cent were false alarms.
SCDF says it will step up public education efforts on the use of
its Emergency Ambulance Services through exhibitions, distribution
of posters and leaflets.
For medical cases that are non-life threatening, SCDF urges the
public to call 1777 for the non-emergency ambulance services run by
Private Ambulance Operators (PAOs).
This, SCDF says, will allow more emergency resources to be
channelled towards life threatening cases.
SCDF says over the next two year, it will be working with the PAOs
to increase their fleet of ambulances as well as to increase their
operating hours based on the projected demands.
The increase will be carried out gradually and in phases to ensure
that the PAOs continue to meet the service standards expected.
Since June 2009, SCDF has engaged the services of two PAOs to
supplement its fleet of operational ambulances.
SCDF says the overall number of calls responded to within 11
minutes improved - from 80.9 per cent in 2008 to 84.7 per cent in
2011, with the introduction of private emergency ambulances.
Other statistics released pertain to fire incidents and fire safety
enforcement.
The number of fire incidents last year was 4,470 fires, a decrease
of 3 per cent from 4,600 fires in 2010. This is the lowest number
of fire incidents recorded in more than a decade.
SCDF says there was a drop in number of fires across all types of
premises.
But there are three areas of concern.
The number of unattended cooking fires accounted for 15 per cent of
the total number of residential fires. The number of fires for this
category went up - from 474 in 2010 to 500 last year.
The number of gas fires also went up 115 per cent - from 20 cases
in 2010 to 43 cases in 2011. Such fires result from the
accumulation of LPG gases which may have leaked from a faulty LPG
cylinder, regulator, hose or stove.
The number of fires involving household contents went up by 79 -
from 259 cases for the same period last year. Fires involving
furniture, clothing, mattresses are usually caused by the
indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials such as cigarette
butts or children playing with lighted materials.
The SCDF adds that the number of injuries arising from fires
increased by 22 persons to 165 persons last year. There were four
fatalities due to fire incidents last year. There were none in
2010.
As for fire safety enforcement, SCDF stepped up its enforcement
checks last year but issued fewer Fire Hazard Abatement Notices
(FHAN) and Notices of Fire Safety Offence (NFSO).
A FHAN serves as a warning to building owners and management to
remove the hire hazard. 2,632 FHANs were issued in 2011, a drop of
12.8 per cent compared to 2010.
A NSFO is issued instead of a FHAN when the contravention is of a
serious nature and warrants a heavier penalty. 2,164 NSFOs were
issued in 2011, a decrease of 0.9% compared to 2010.
SCDF says the most common fire hazard resulting in FHANs in 2011
was the obstruction to exits and fire engine accessways.
As for NSFOs, SCDF says the main contributing offence was
unauthorised change of use, for example, of premises to workers'
dormitories.
SCDF says it takes violations of fire safety requirements seriously
and will not hesitate to take firm action against building
management that do not promptly take action to rectify fire safety
violations despite warnings and fines.
Court action will be taken for serious cases. Last year, 49 charges
were filed for court action against fire safety offenders. 53 per
cent of the cases were for unauthorised change of use.
- CNA/ck