XN000022-1996-10-09 — Page 10

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Mr Wong reiterated that government efforts in hill fire prevention alone were not enough.

"The best solution must depend on the co-operation and good sense of the members of the community," he said.

"If everyone is concerned about the damages caused by hill fires and is willing to take proper care when handling fire in countryside, the vegetation and wildlife will have a better chance to survive."

He said in the last dry season, there was a total of 181 hill fires inside or threatening country parks, damaging some 74,400 trees on over 2,880 hectares of park land.

Generally speaking, the occurrence of hill fires is mainly caused by the prevailing weather conditions. A particularly dry and windy day, coupled with the carelessness of country park visitors, may result in a disastrous fire.

"The destruction caused by hill fires does not restrict to countryside vegetation. The landscape quality, wildlife habitats and soil stability are also affected," Mr Wong said.

"Hill fires could even endanger human life and property."

He reiterated that most of the hill fires could be avoided if the public were able to take some simple precautionary measures.

These include lighting fires only in designated barbecue sites, no discarding of cigarette ends, not burning weeds and hay on dry and windy days as well as never leaving burning joss sticks and paper unattended.

During the dry season, AFD's 22 fire fighting teams would be mobilised to fight hill fires.

In addition to fire lookouts, AFD also has a fire control centre at Kowloon hills co-ordinate all fire fighting arrangements. A 24-hour hotline 2720 0777 is maintained to collect hill fire reports from the public.

Mr Wong said AFD and Fire Services Department (FSD) had developed an effective system in preventing, detecting and fighting hill fires.

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