ABLE CHARITY had been organizing “fire watch patrols” twice a year since those big fires of 1998.. On one day alone in 1998 there were forty (40) fires sweeping across lamma island including the notorious fire that burnt a few thousand baby trees in the Forest.

Saturday the 5th of April is the Ching Ming festival, the first of the traditional grave sweeping days. The second is the Cheung Yung in october. On these days the Chinese community visits their ancestors’ graves and tends to them, as well as burning paper money and incense sometimes in dry conditions, this coupled with a bit of neglect can cause some serious fires…

Since we started patrolling and together with the rising awareness amongst the people and the Government efforts the number of fires has dropped quite considerably. In fact the previous year there was only a handful of small fires on lamma. This is a great improvement but we cannot afford to drop our guard especially around the “lamma forest” area.

The text below is from flyers and posters we put up around the Lamma in the days leading up to these public holidays.

ABLE CHARITY is seeking volunteers to help patrol on the day. if you are willing and able please email us at: able_charity@hkisl.net or phone us on 2982 6994 to register.

what you will need on the day:
water for drinking and perhaps some snacks.
a hat and suncream if hot and sunny.
a mobile phone (essential).
sturdy shoes and some strong long trousers like jeans.
a pair of binoculars (if possible) will be handy.
but above all what we really, really need is RAIN!!!
keep your fingers crossed.