Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung on Wednesday said fire service installation and equipment inspections at new buildings will be dealt with quicker once a new office opens in March.

At a press briefing, he said the One-stop Coordination Office for New Fire Protection Facilities Acceptance is expected to cut the certification process down, from an average 52 days to 35.

He also said the Fire Services Department will review licensing procedures in light of potential budget cuts to help address the government's deficit.

"The financial secretary is now preparing the budget. As usual, we will use our resources prudently and review the resources allocations, review the workflow, review all the licensing, in particular, the licensing procedure in order to cope with the government's budget cuts," Yeung said.

The fire chief also said his department has beefed up inspections of old buildings after a fire in a residential building in Jordan killed five people last April.

"We conducted inspections of 1,000 old buildings last year with a relatively higher fire risk after the tragic fire at the New Lucky House. More than 8,661 fire hazard abatement notices were issued during the inspection and over half of these cases were related to smoke stop door irregularities," he said.