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Sunday, November 12, 1972
If the grass or leaves should accidentally catch fire, then the
immediate action must be to stamp or beat the fire out. The broken off branch
of a leafy tree makes a good beater.
Should the fire get out of hand, don't panic but quickly send for
help; ask other parties of visitors to help; go to the nearest Forestry
Post or fire lookout cabin; telephone the Conservation and Forests Division
on 3-688523 (during office hours) or 3-781211 (after office hours), or dial
999 and report to the Fire Services Department.
In the case of villagers or farmers wanting to burn off weeds, they
should do so only when the day is not windy, and when there is no risk of the
fire spreading.
In the 1971-72 hill fire season, over 800 fires were reported to the
Agriculture and Fisheries Department and some 1,800 acres were destroyed or
damaged. About 20 per cent of that land was within forest plantation areas.
About 300,000 trees were lost, and that estimate does not include the
extensive damage to village woodlands.
Some 320 of the total 800 fires broke out during weekends and public
holidays, showing how responsibility fell heavily on visitors from the city.
The combination of dry weather and festivals involving ancestor
worship, with the burning of ritual papers and joss sticks at gravesides,
also has a rerious adverse effect on the incidence of fires.
To remind people of the danger of fire when the weather is dry, the
Royal Observatory has recently started using a new warning system, comparable
to the typhoon signal service.
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