Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government was committed to enhancing rescue training for front-line firefighters and maintaining the high efficiency and quality of rescue services, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose S K Lee said on Friday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the West Kowloon Rescue Training Center of the Fire Services Department, Lee said the HKSAR government had been working hard to provide people with a safe and stable living environment. One major task was to provide timely rescue services for people who were involved in accidents.

"To maintain the high efficiency and quality of its rescue services, the Fire Services Department has spent 96 million Hong Kong dollars (about US$12.39 million) in building the West Kowloon Rescue Training Center to provide state-of-the-art training facilities for front-line rescue personnel," Lee said.

More than 2,000 firefighters have received training at the center since its commissioning in November, 2006.

"I am confident that they will have their fire-fighting and rescue skills further upgraded after the training," he said.

The nine-storey training center is equipped with advanced rescue and fire-fighting training facilities, which include live fire training chamber that simulated training zones for hotels, domestic premises, factories and karaoke establishments.

Lee said an advanced infrared sensor system was installed in various training areas to enable firefighters to undergo intensive training in a safe environment.

He said the Fire Services Department would continue to acquire fire appliances and rescue equipment on a need basis, and to put up fire stations in newly developed areas and in old areas that needed them, with a view to strengthening the department's fire- fighting and rescue capabilities.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)