Hong Kong to deploy firefighting drones during tomb-sweeping festival for first time
High risk of hill fires because of dry weather, authorities warn ahead of Chung Yeung Festival
Hong Kong authorities will deploy drones to detect hill fires for the first time during the Chung Yeung Festival on Friday as part of their emergency response measures, warning of a high risk of blazes because of dry weather.
Twenty-two teams comprising 220 members in total would be sent to patrol various areas and put out hill fires on Friday and Saturday, a cross-departmental task force said.
More than 80 additional fire services personnel would also be deployed to conduct inspections at multiple locations where there was a high risk of hill fires, including Yuen Long, Pat Heung, Heung Yuen Wai, Sheung Shui, Tin Shui Wai and Lau Fau Shan in the New Territories.
The Fire Services Department, Civil Aid Service, Government Flying Service and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department make up the task force.
The fire service will use two firefighting drones to carry out aerial patrols and broadcast fire prevention information, the first time the unmanned aircraft are being deployed in operations for the festival.
“It will be clear [on Friday] and the relative humidity will be low. Hill fires will be more likely to occur than usual,” Raymond Wong King-man, the department’s deputy chief fire officer of New Territories North, said on Thursday.
“The Chung Yeung Festival is a traditional Chinese festival for worshipping ancestors, but we must not be negligent and cause hill fires and damage nature.”
