XN000022-1976-01-08 — Page 12

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Thursday, January 8, 1976

PUBLIC URGED TO HELD FIRE PRECAUTION WARNINGS

The Fire Services Department today urged members of the public to

be more careful with fires; especially in the countryside.

A spokesman for the department said that because of the prolonged

spell of very dry weather, the average daily number of fires for the first seven

days of this month totalled 44, compared with 21 for the same period last

month.

"During tais period," he added, "there were 306 fires of which 183

were hill fires. It is most disappointing to see that such a large percentage

of fires occurred in the countryside in spite of repeated warnings to the public

to be careful."

The spokesman attributed the increase largely to carelessness and

failure to take precautions in view of the fire danger brought about by the

present dry spell. Burning of weeds or other waste materials by villagers on

open ground was another main cause of hill fires.

"If all available firemen and engines are deployed to fight hill fires

which normally take hours to put out, there might not be enough people to call on

should fires occur at the same time in multi-storey buildings," he said.

He urged smokers to be particularly careful when discarding cigarette

ends and matches and appealed to visitors to the rural areas this weekend to do

all they could to prevent causing fires.

The spokesman

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