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CONGRATULATIONS TO Bill Stewart, chief of Toronto Fire Services, who was elected president of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association on 30 April 2008. Bill will also become president-elect of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) for 2008/09 at the annual general meeting and conference in July.
With Bill as president of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, we can look forward to a closer, more cordial relationship between the two organisations. On behalf of all IFE members, I wish him a successful and rewarding presidential term.
I was privileged to speak recently at the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Conference 2008, held in Virginia Beach, USA, on 28-30 April. In addressing an audience consisting mainly of chief executives of North American fire authorities, I provided an overview of IFE and discussed the international development of fire engineering. I raised some contemporary questions, including: what we want to see as a future for the fire engineering profession; how do we ensure that our officers are competent in approving fire safety designs proposed by consultants; how do fire authorities ensure that the designed fire safety concepts are preserved throughout the life of the protected premises; and, in the event of an incident, how do front-line officers deploy the systems for the safety of the occupants, as well as colleagues working under their leadership.
North America and Canada
While on my visit to North America, I joined the Hong Kong delegation in visiting a few organisations, including the Virginia Beach Fire Department, the Chicago Fire Department, Underwriters Laboratories in Chicago, Toronto Fire Services, and Toronto Emergency Medical Services, before attending the annual general meeting of the IFE’s Canada Branch. I concede that not many people we met were familiar with the work of IFE, and I was pleased to be able to continue flying the flag and extending our frontiers, as our international association is where our strength lies.
Another person I wish to congratulate is Andrew Wong, who was elected president of the IFE’s Canada Branch at its recent annual general meeting – the second time he has been president of the Branch. Andrew had a very successful career with the Hong Kong Fire Services before joining our Canadian colleagues, and was the founding president of the Canada Branch. I wish him a fruitful and enjoyable year. The previous president, Mark Regimbald – another most dedicated IFE member – moves on to higher levels of responsibilities. Again, I wish him all the best and a most successful career.
How fragile life can be. With memories of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, and several other major disasters still looming in our minds, on 2 May, Tropical Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar, leaving some 133,600 people dead or missing, and some 2 million homeless. As the world was still debating the provision of large-scale disaster relief into Myanmar, a massive earthquake jolted the Sichuan province of southwest China on 12 May.
The earthquake will prove to be the worst natural disaster to hit the country since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), even more severe than the Tangshan earthquake in 1976.
At the time of writing, the death toll was over 32,000 and was estimated to exceed 50,000, with over 220,000 injuries also reported. As the quake occurred during school hours, thousands of students were trapped and feared dead in collapsed school buildings.
National response
The PRC emergency response to this incident has been remarkably prompt and transparent. In a matter of hours after the quake, premier Wen Jiabao was on-site to direct rescue work. In emergency management terms, an official at such senior level serves to cut through formalities, and mobilising of national rescue and military resources becomes almost instantaneous.
No country can be self-sufficient in either urban search and rescue operations or post-incident relief when hit by such a massive disaster. To complement its 113,000-strong rescue force made up of troops and civilians, the PRC gratefully accepted international aid. Emergency teams from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Russia, Hong Kong and notably Taiwan, with modern equipment and trained personnel, arrived within days to assist.
I hope this will go down as a model in that emergency responses should transcend national boundaries and not be frustrated by political, cultural or social differences, and that emergency workers should be trained and equipped for international operations so that the suffering of victims can be reduced to an absolute minimum, irrespective of localities and the nature of the disaster.
Charles Chu
FSDSM, CPM, BEng (Hons), CEng, FIFireE, FHKIE
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