Hsinchu City firefighters are overburdened with tasks outside their purview, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said on Thursday, urging the Hsinchu City Government to review practices at its fire department.
Chiu made the remark at a news conference he convened with NPP Hsinchu City councilors Tsai Hui-ting (蔡惠婷), Liao Tzu-chi (廖子齊) and Lin Yen-fu (林彥甫), and Fire Fighter Work Rights Promotion Association deputy chairman Cheng Shao-shu (鄭少書) at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Lin said the Hsinchu Fire Department and other city government agencies had dispatched firefighters to sweep sand in Nanliao Township (南寮), with the work filmed by one of them and later leaked to the media.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
As the city is increasingly outsourcing tasks such as catching bees and snakes, rescuing animals, and cleaning roads to contractors, dispatching firefighters for such tasks should stop, Lin said.
The councilors recently received reports of firefighters being dispatched to help people with excess moisture in their homes, Lin said.
Liao said that the city’s firefighters had since January been dispatched to help the public 3,128 times, including 1,945 times to remove beehives or capture snakes.
They were dispatched 1,091 times to pick locks, break doors, or rescue pet dogs or cats, Liao said, adding that none of those activities are legally defined as the tasks of a fire department.
Liao urged Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) to allow firefighters to focus on their job and not use them for frivolous activities.
Tsai said firefighters must react quickly to emergencies, and should devote their time to preventing and combating fires, and helping those in need due to a disaster.
The Hsinchu City Government is mismanaging its fire department, Tsai said.
Being busy with other tasks, the city’s firefighters might not be able to appropriately respond to a fire, Tsai said, adding that this might lead to tragedy and loss of life.
Cheng, a serving firefighter, said that the Taoyuan City Government only enacted changes after 12 firefighters had died.
However, the Hsinchu mayor should adopt the same mindset as Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) on the city’s fire department, Cheng Shao-shu said.
Lin Chih-chien’s conduct is worrying, especially as he might run in the Taoyuan mayoral election in November, Cheng Shao-shu said.
Chiu urged the Hsinchu City Government to enact changes and not to blame whistleblowers or frontline firefighters for bringing attention to the problem.
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