A massive fire in Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong, has finally been extinguished after burning for over 43 hours, engulfing seven 31-storey residential buildings in the Wang Fuk Estate. As of the afternoon of November 30th, the fire has tragically claimed the lives of 146 individuals. Meanwhile, the cause of the blaze remains a focal point of attention.
The Hong Kong police announced during a press conference on November 30th that the fire at Wang Fuk Estate in Tai Po had led to the deaths of 146 people by 4 p.m. on that day, with 100 individuals still unaccounted for. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility of the death toll rising further. The Police Casualty Enquiry Team continues to investigate, having successfully contacted 159 citizens from the missing persons list and confirmed their safety.
The Housing Department has deployed over 100 professionals to conduct preliminary inspections on six buildings with over 1,500 units affected by the fire.
While the public focuses on the casualties, attention is also drawn to the rapid spread of the fire.
According to reports from local media outlets, the contractor responsible for the external wall refurbishment at Wang Fuk Estate, Hong Yip Construction, presented a certificate indicating that the scaffolding net used met “fire-retardant standards”. Hong Yip Construction is suspected of using protective nets produced by two companies in Shandong, China, but official websites of testing institutions show no records of reports from these two companies.
Reports from Hong Kong 01 indicate that Hong Yip Construction, responsible for the external wall refurbishment at Wang Fuk Estate prior to the incident, had undertaken external wall refurbishment projects for 11 buildings in Hong Kong.
Among these 11 buildings, residents of “Fu Wah Garden Fu Jia Palace” and “Joyful Garden” successively presented inspection reports posted in the community indicating that the protective nets used in the buildings were manufactured by “Shandong Chenxu Fiber Rope Network Co., Ltd” and “Binzhou Yuanjin Fiber Rope Network Co., Ltd”, branded as “Fire-Retardant Dense Network”, and had been certified by the Binzhou Quality Inspection Testing Center in Shandong Province.
However, both reports, based on the assigned numbers, did not yield any results when searched on the Binzhou Quality Inspection Testing Center’s official website.
The reports point out that on the Alibaba sales platform page of “Binzhou Yuanjin Fiber Rope Network Co., Ltd”, test reports from the Binzhou Quality Inspection Testing Center as well as the full report based on the report number can be found. However, the product listed on the platform differs from the one disclosed in the “Joyful Garden” community.
When questioned via phone, Xing Long, director of Binzhou Yuanjin Fiber Rope Network Co., Ltd, stated that they were unaware of any distributors selling their products in Hong Kong and emphasized that the testing reports should be relied upon.
Likewise, on the Alibaba sales platform page of Binzhou Yuanjin Fiber Rope Network Co., Ltd, products such as scaffolding nets, dust covers, and windproof nets are listed, most of which are labeled as “fire-retardant”, accompanied by images and videos demonstrating fire tests.
However, the head of Shandong Chenxu Fiber Factory did not respond to inquiries over the phone.
On November 27th, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung noted that during the firefighting and rescue operations, the fire department discovered that materials on the exterior walls of the building involved included scaffolding nets, protective film, waterproof canvas, and plastic sheets, which, upon ignition, burned much more vigorously and rapidly than compliant materials, indicating an unusual situation that requires thorough investigation by the Hong Kong government.
Additionally, last year, residents of Wang Fuk Estate raised safety concerns regarding the scaffolding nets to the Labor Department, which had conducted 16 inspections of maintenance projects over the past year and had issued written warnings reminding contractors to take appropriate fire prevention measures.
Wang Fuk Estate comprises 8 residential buildings, where extensive renovation works commenced in July last year, with external bamboo scaffolding erected since August, now spanning over a year. At the time of the fire, all buildings were enveloped by scaffolding nets. According to previous on-site videos, both the ground and upper levels of the burning building were entirely covered by a green mesh netting.