9
Tuesday, October 2, 1973
STUDENT CONSERVATION LEADERS IN FIRE WATCH
During the celebration of the Chung Yeung festival on Thursday
(October 4) large numbers of secondary school students will be assisting
the Agriculture and Fisheries Department in the prevention of countryside
hill fires.
Every year during the festival an enormous amount of damage is
done to the countryside by fires, caused through negligence during rites
at ancestral graves. At such times all the available regular forestry
staff are deployed over as wide an area as possible, and the assistance
of these volunteers will be a great help.
The young volunteers will be stationed in the hills, ach with
a predetermined area to cover. When a family group arrives to worship at
a grave, the volunteer will join that group and advise them of the pre-
cautions to be taken, and he will seek their co-operation to prevent the
accidental starting of grass fires.
The volunteers will also act as fire lockouts, with the respon-
sibility of reporting any outbreaks to the forestry fire-fighting staff.
Thirty-nine members of Conservancy Clubs from 14 secondary
schools last summer attended two-week long residential Conservation Leader-
ship Training Camps, organised jointly by the Agriculture and Fisheries
Department and the Education Department.
Besides gaining a better understanding of environmental problems,
they also acquired basic skills in practical conservation work, such as the
detection and suppression of hill fires, and the planting and care of trees.
Since the completion of those training courses, these leaders have
been working to promote a feeling of conservation awareness among the other
pupils in their respective schools.
Release Time: 7.00 Foils