UN accreditation ‘will give Hong Kong’s rescue team greater global role’
Outgoing deputy fire chief spent career battling city’s blazes, commanding rescue operations and managing ambulance services during Covid
Hong Kong’s urban search and rescue team is gearing up to win UN accreditation early next year, the city’s retiring deputy fire chief has said.
This would allow it to play a more significant role in international rescue efforts, according to Angus Wong Chun-yip, the Fire Services Department’s outgoing deputy director of operations. Accreditation would allow the team to work independently for seven days.
Wong said that while the nature of the job had remained constant over his 31-year career, advancements in technology had significantly enhanced operational precision and safety.
“If we get UN accreditation we can play a more important role when we join international search and rescue missions, such as a commander in a joint command unit, a divisional commander or chief commander,” Wong said.
The veteran firefighter, who retire on Tuesday as he turns 58, has spent his career battling and investigating the city’s blazes, commanding rescue operations and managing ambulance services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the most memorable moments in his career were the magnitude 8 Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and an inferno at an industrial building that killed two firefighters in 2016, he said.