No injuries were reported and there was no information that any of the fires was suspicious, a government spokesman said last night.

The fires reported as of 5pm yesterday were more than seven times the five in last year's traditional honoring of the dead.

A fire affecting a 500,000 sq m area started at Ling Yan Monastery in Tai O at 1.25pm and was still raging as of 7pm.

Another has burned a 40,000 sq m area at Mui Tsz Lam and had yet to be put out hours after it started at 11.59am, even with the Government Flying Service assisting.

Another hillside fire that began at 2.22pm scorched a 10,000 sq m area in Sha Kiu Tsuen, Lau Fau Shan.

Helicopters helped ferry water and the blaze was extinguished at 3.32pm

The Hong Kong Observatory issued the yellow fire warning at 6am Saturday and cancelled it at 6.02pm yesterday.

At Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery, messages blared out of loudspeakers reminding grave sweepers to completely put out splints to prevent hill fires.

Some grave sweepers said converting vacant industrial buildings into columbaria as proposed by Food and Health Secretary York Chow Yat-ngok was not a bad idea.

But some were worried the proposal may go against tradition, in which grave- sweepers must pay tribute to their dead at hillsides.

With roads leading to cemeteries closed from 5.30am to 8pm, most families had to walk long routes while carrying flowers, roast pork and other offerings. Some complained the enclosed areas were too large.

Hong Kong Observatory scientific officer Kung Wing-hang said relative humidities for most urban areas are below 70 percent.

Meanwhile, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, who is recovering from an angioplasty following a heart attack, led the official ceremony honoring those who died in the defense of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1945 in his first public duty as acting chief executive.

The ceremony was held at the City Hall Memorial Garden in Central.