Firehouses in Guangzhou City are terribly scattered and fire fighters cannot reach the fire spots within 5 minutes, said Lin Chuguo, the president of the Guangzhou fire department, Information Times reported yesterday.

The approved headcounts of the fire fighters in the capital of Guangdong Province is based on the city's area in 1996, which was about 300 square kilometers, the Foshan-based newspaper said. But the city is now twice as large as that, Lin said.

To meet the demand of the 2010 Asian Games and the extension of the firehouses, the administration should fulfill the current size and recruit another 500 fire fighters in two years, Lin said.

If all the 26 planned firehouses are built in three years, fire fighters may get to the spots much sooner than now, Lin said.

Fire engines used 7 minutes to the spot where a fire killed three people last month, but the international standard is 5 minutes, Lin said.

The city government planned to use 2.1 million yuan (US$259,580) for the maintenance of the city's fire hydrants and will set up another 1,076 hydrants in three years, the newspaper said.

(Shanghai Daily December 16, 2005)