Xiao Huanzhang, director of the Taichung City Fire Bureau, stated that without the assistance of relevant positioning devices during mountain hikes, search and rescue efforts may take significantly longer. Therefore, the municipal government is drafting the "Taichung City Mountain Hiking Activity Management Autonomous Ordinance," and a public hearing will be held to gather opinions from all sectors, hoping for widespread support.
On the 6th, the Taichung City Fire Bureau was alerted to rescue two injured and stranded hikers on Mount Ma'an. Although the injured hikers used positioning communication devices to report their condition and location during the rescue, it still took over 12 hours to locate them.
The fire bureau stated that rescue personnel spent the entire night searching on foot in the Mount Ma'an area for the stranded hikers. During this time, some firefighters also accidentally slipped and were injured on the slopes. Despite the injured hikers using positioning communication devices to communicate their status and whereabouts in a timely manner, and rescuers conducting an all-out search, it still took over 12 hours until 6:38 a.m. today when the stranded hikers were finally found and rescued.
Xiao Huanzhang pointed out that it is a crucial safety concept for people entering mountainous areas for hiking activities to carry positioning communication devices. Taking the Mount Ma'an injury case as an example, although the stranded hikers had already carried positioning communication devices for locating and contacting rescuers, it still took over 12 hours of overnight searching. If they had not carried the relevant devices for assistance, it could have taken even more time to locate and rescue them, with unimaginable consequences.
The fire bureau is currently working on the draft of the "Taichung City Mountain Hiking Activity Management Autonomous Ordinance," which mandates the carrying of relevant positioning communication devices. The draft will later undergo additional public hearings to gather opinions from all sectors of society, and it is hoped that it will receive broad support.
In addition, in response to mountain accidents, given the insufficient emergency medical capacity in remote areas, Taichung City specially established a mountain rescue volunteer firefighter squad in Heping District last year. It has also increased the number of ambulances allocated to fire stations in remote areas and integrated rescue personnel and vehicles from the Lishan and Heping area health centers as well as the military's Liyang Camp across agencies, thereby enhancing ambulance dispatch capacity. 1050507
(Central News Agency)