Some 2,000 Hong Kong firefighters have been issued upgraded tracking devices after an independent inquiry into last year’s deadly Tai Po fire exposed technical limitations in the previous system, the South China Morning Post has learned.
The Fire Services Department spent HK$8.4 million (US$1.1 million) on the new Firefighter Tracking Devices (FTDs), which cost more than HK$4,000 each, to help find personnel in distress more effectively.
The November 1 roll-out came about a year after the Wang Fuk Court blaze, in which firefighter Ho Wai-ho lost contact with his comrades before becoming one of the 168 people killed.