XN000022-1974-09-24 — Page 3

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.

1974

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$28.9 MILLION LOST IN FIRES

PUBLIC AGAIN WARNED ON FIRE DANGER

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THE ESTIMATED MONETARY LOSSES FROM FIRE DURING THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF THIS YEAR AMOUNT TO $28.9 MILLION MORE

THAN 40 PER CENT OVER THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR WHEN FINANCIAL LOSSES TOTALLED $20.3 MILLION.

+AND UNLESS PEOPLE START BEING EXTRA CAREFUL THE FIGURE MAY GO UP HIGHER AS WE HAVEN'T EVEN REACHED THE NORMAL PEAK FIRE PERIOD YET,+ A FIRE SERVICES SPOKESMAN WARNED.

BETWEEN JANUARY AND AUGUST THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 4,653 FIRES, 202 MORE THAN IN THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR. OF THESE, 251 WERE INDUSTRIAL FIRES ACCOUNTING FOR $23.7 MILLION OR '82 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL LOSSES.

THE 'SPOKESMAN SAID THE DRIER THAN USUAL WEATHER HAD UNDOUBTEDLY HAD A SIGNIFICANT DEARING ON THE HIGHER NUMBER OF FIRES, BUT ADDED THAT MOST OF THESE COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF SIMPLE PREVENTION MEASURES HAD BEEN TAKEN.

+CARELESSNESS IS AT THE ROOT OF MOST FIRES,+ HE SAID, URGING THE PUBLIC TO TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION TO PREVENT FIRE.

THE SPOKESMAN REPEATED THE WARNING GIVEN RECENTLY BY THE ACTING DIRECTOR OF FIRE SERVICES, MR. FRED WATSON, THAT 1974 COULD TURN OUT TO BE ONE OF THE WORST YEARS FOR FIRES UNLESS THE PUBLIC WAS CONSIDERABLY MORE CAREFUL.

WATER SITUATION REPORT

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THE TOTAL WATER STORAGE IN ALL RESERVOIRS AS AT 9 A.M. TODAY (TUESDAY) STOOD AT 35,594 MILLION GALLONS, REPRESENTING 52.9 PER CENT OF THE FULL CAPACITY OF 67,300 MILLION GALLONS. AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR THERE WERE 66,301 MILLION GALLONS IN STORE.

THIS MORNING'S STORAGE AT PLOVER COVE WAS 27.375 MILLION GALLONS, COMPARED WITH 50,493 MILLION GALLONS ON THE SAME DAY LAST YEAR. PLOVER COVE'S PRESENT STORAGE REPRESENTS 54.2 PER CENT OF

ITS FULL CAPACITY OF 50,500 MILLION GALLONS.

0.5 M.M. C0.02 IN.) RAINFALL WAS RECORDED AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY DURING THE PAST 24 HOURS ENDING AT 9 A.M. TODAY. RAINFALL RECORDED SO FAR THIS YEAR IS 1,367.3 MM (53.83 IN).

TOTAL

THE MEAN AVERAGE RAINFALL SINCE JANUARY 1 STANDS AT 1,947.5 MM (76.67 IN), REPRESENTING A SHORTFALL OF 29.8 PER CENT.

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