Fire Services Bureau (CB) Commissioner Leong Iok Sam said Tuesday his bureau planned to purchase two or three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) (commonly known as drones) this year for its fire-fighting tasks.
The fire services chief made the remarks during a seminar with representatives from local media outlets at his bureau’s headquarters near Macau Tower.
Leong said that during emergency and rescue operations the drones would allow firefighters to gain a better understanding of places which are difficult reach, such as rescue operations on hills and other operations involving firefighters searching for people who have been reported missing.
Leong pledged that his bureau would continue to review the status of the fire services’ devices and equipment before purchasing additional more advanced equipment and fire engines.
Meanwhile, Leong also said 47,327 incidents requiring the deployment of firefighters took place last year, 609 cases down from 2017. Among the 47,327 cases, 1,116 cases were fire cases, 82 cases up from 2017, or a 7.9 percent increase.
Leong said that most of the fire cases last year were due to carelessness.
