CHAPTER IV
FIRES AND FIRE VICTIMS
54. The few fires which occurred during the first seven months of the year were small and raised hopes that the era of large and frequent squatter fires had come to an end. November provided a rude awakening. On the first day of this month the Fa Hui Squatter Area in Kowloon, at the junction of Boundary Street and the railway, was almost entirely obliterated by an exceptionally fierce fire which was the largest for over a year. The total number of persons made homeless
was about 6,000.
55. This was quickly followed by two fires at Lo Fu Ngam, in the Kowloon City district, on the 7th and 16th of November. There was another fire at Hing Wah Street, Cheung Sha Wan on the 26th, and on the 27th and 30th two fires at Valley Road, Hung Hom. On the following day, December 1st, the scene changed to Hong Kong Island where there was a fire at Lin Fa Kung on the slopes behind Causeway Bay.
56. After that date no sizeable fires occurred but as a result of the November fires the number of fire victims in huts on the streets of Kowloon increased from 7,000 to nearly 19,000.
57. The frequency of fires in November led to special in- vestigations being made by the Police since it seemed probable that some at least were the result of arson. These investiga- tions confirmed this suspicion but it was not possible to obtain enough evidence to bring a prosecution. The fact that no more large fires occurred after these investigations had started may also be significant.
58. When a group of closely packed wooden huts catches fire in an area without any water mains there is little or nothing which any fire brigade can do to prevent the whole group from burning out. Squatter fires usually start in huts where a chattie, a stove or a lamp has been left burning while the occupants are out and as soon as it is noticed the occupants of all the adjacent huts make for safety. There is very rarely any loss of life and normally only a small number of minor casualties.
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