25th October 2020 – (Hong Kong) Today (25th) is the Double Ninth Festival. Many citizens took advantage of the long weekend to sweep the graves. However, many wildfires occurred in the New Territories. Among them, some grave-sweepers accidentally left joss sticks resulting in flames.
According to the Observatory’s data, the weather in Hong Kong today is very dry. As of 6 pm, the relative humidity in the general area is 57% and the yellow fire hazard warning is in effect, indicating that the fire risk is quite high. Looking through the records, the Fire Services Department has received a total of 72 wildfire reports in various districts in the New Territories starting from 9am this morning, as of 2 pm, covering Yuen Long, Pat Heung, Tuen Mun, Mai Po, Sheung Shui, Tai Po, Ma On Shan, Sha Tau Kok and other places.
There was also a hill fire at Mount Parker on Hong Kong Island. Nearly 2pm, a hill fire broke out near Lingnan University in Tuen Mun, causing white smoke. It is understood that there are many cemeteries in the area of the scene, and it is not ruled out that some citizens accidentally started the fire while sweeping graves.
Helicopters from Government Flying Services were deployed.
