Interesting Facts

According to the United States Fire Administration, in the USA there are 10,300 fires during the three-day period around Halloween.   These fires cause an estimated 25 deaths, 125 injuries and $83 million in property loss. (Most fires are down to the candles in jack-o-lanterns and costumes that aren't fire-retardent.)

In the last five years, fire crews in England have received over 1,700 calls to help move obese patients. (Essex had the most calls at 390. It's not easy to move any human being, believe me, so they even have a 22 stone dummy to practise on. What a crazy world we live in.)

powered by ODEO A fire at a landfill site in Mont Cuet, Guernsey has been smouldering for three years. (But the world's longest burning fire, known as the Devil's oven, is in New Straitsville, Ohio. It started burning back in 1884, when some unhappy miners pushed a burning coal car, filled with timber, down the mine shaft . So basically, the one on Guernsey is rubbish.)

Since June 2007 an estimated 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) of land has been destroyed in around 3,000 wildfires in Greece. (Some of the fires are natural, due to the high temperatures, but most have been started deliberately by developers. Because there is no land registry illegal construction is rife, but there is a simple solution, I suggest the authorities contact Google Earth for some pre fire photos, then replant in all those areas that were previously forest.) Listen Here