XN000022-1972-11-12 — Page 3

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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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