Taichung Councilor Criticizes Fire Bureau for Not Replacing Old Air Conditioners; Bureau Responds with Phased Replacement Plan

(Central News Agency, reporter Zhao Li-yen, Taichung, 7th) Taichung City firefighters have reported that their stations strictly limit the use of air conditioners. City Councilor Chen Yu-jung stated today that the Fire Bureau has had surplus electricity costs for the past two years and should replace the old, power-consuming air conditioners. The Fire Bureau responded that it is carrying out a phased replacement of old units with new ones.

Chen Yu-jung, a councilor from the Democratic Progressive Party, issued a press release today, criticizing the Fire Bureau for adopting an unusual energy-saving measure that restricts usage hours despite over 70% of air conditioners being old, preventing firefighters from resting comfortably. According to the Fire Bureau's electricity cost statistics for the past three years, there have been surpluses in the last two years.

Reviewing data on the age of air conditioners at each squad, Chen pointed out that the field squads have a total of 949 air conditioning units. Of these, 284 units (29.93%) are less than 5 years old, 410 units (43.20%) are between 5 and 10 years old, and 255 units (26.87%) are over 10 years old, which is the root cause of high electricity consumption.

The Fire Bureau responded in a written statement that it budgets annually to purchase first-class energy-saving air conditioning equipment and is gradually replacing old units. Currently, all air conditioning equipment over 10 years old at the squads is functioning normally. The Bureau will continue to seek budget allocations to accelerate equipment replacement, improve the living environment for field squads, and balance usage needs with energy management. (Editor: Wu Su-rou) 1150607