MARINE DEPARTMENT LIBRARY
FIRE AND OTHER OCCURRENCES
A TOTAL of 1,086 calls were received and responded to by the Fire Brigade during the year under review as against 1,117 Classifications of these calls are as
for the preceding year.
follows:-
Fires:
Buildings
Electrical
315
134
Chimneys
57
Motor Vehicles
30
Grass & Shrubbery
161
Ships
19
Squatter areas
20
Riots
24
Aircraft
1
Small fires
117
Miscellaneous
58
936
False Alarms:
With good intent
Malicious
22222223
13
35
Special Services:
Landslides, House Collapses, Drowning,
etc.
115
116
Total
1,086
&
The estimate of monetary loss by fires was $6,445,486.48. A graph showing the number of fire calls attended and estimated monetary losses by fire from 1st April, 1956 to 31st March, 1957 appears in Appendix I.
2. The number of serious fires showed a decrease; details of the more notable ones are appended below:
2nd August, 1956-
A fire broke out at Tai Hang Road squatter area on 2nd August, 1956, and about 120 squatter huts were destroyed. In accordance with the Brigade's predeter- mined plan for this squatter area fire appliances took up strategic positions on arrival and connected direct to fire hydrants. In the early stages of the fire the forward positions in the pre-arranged plan were difficult to maintain due to the low water pressure,
1