Hill fires in Hong Kong do not occur naturally.In fact,all of them were man-made. Though it’s a general beliefthat the nature can be perfectly restored by trees planting upon hill fires, fire prevention is in fact more important thananymitigationmeasure. In view of this, CA organizes “No Hill Fire” campaign to raise the awareness of hill fire prevention and environmental protection in every Ching Ming and Chung Yeung Festival, the high-risk days of hill fire occurrence.
As we understand thedifficultyto alter old customs, we have been putting efforts on promoting hill fire preventionpersistentlyover the years. In the past, we distributed bottled water to grave sweepers as well as setting up public vats for burning paper offerings. In recent years, we gave out hundreds of chrysanthemums in Ching Ming Festival to grave sweepers. We encourage them to offer flowers instead of burning paper offerings toshow respect totheir ancestors, practising genuine “clear” and “civilized” Ching Ming Festival.
The idea of offering flowers to ancestors does not sound new at all. It is graceful to express mourning with flowers, whichat the sametime, reducespollution and destruction to the natural environment.
CA held the first “No Hill Fire” campaign on Lamma Island in Chung Yeung Festival in 2006. The result was remarkable that the Island recorded zero hill fire record for several consecutive years since then. Today, CA still leads volunteer teams to place bottled water in graveyardsonLamma Island to promote the message of fire prevention to grave sweepers.
Your participation
As a responsible citizen, try to remind your family members to handle fire carefully and avoid using fire as a means to clear the weeds neargraves. If burning paper offerings is a must, remember to bring water and make sure all fire, candles and incense sticks are completely burned out before leaving.
CA puts up banners at Central Pier every year to promote the message. We also work with the HK Electric Volunteer Team on Lamma Island, placing bottled water (tap water) at graveyardsfor grave sweeper to put out candles fire.
Volunteers placed the bottled water next to the graves.
In Ching Ming morning, chrysanthemums with fire prevention messages attached are distributed to grave sweepers by volunteers, promoting the idea of offering flowers instead of burning paper offerings.
