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Leopold Chen

The independent committee investigating Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po blaze has finished 21 sessions of evidential hearings over three rounds, identifying loopholes in the supervision of the estate’s renovation project and the government’s regulation of fire hazards.
The inferno broke out on November 26 last year when all eight blocks at Wang Fuk Court were undergoing exterior maintenance work and were covered in scaffolding and mesh netting.
The fire tore through seven blocks, killing 168 people and becoming the deadliest in Hong Kong since 1948.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu ordered the creation of the committee, chaired by Justice David Lok Kai-hong, to investigate the cause of the disaster and identify any systemic problems in the lucrative building maintenance sector.
Ahead of the fourth round of hearings on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post sums up the findings so far.

1. Key facts about the fire scene
In his opening speech, committee lead barrister Victor Dawes SC said the fire started between 2.42pm and 2.45pm in the lightwell outside flats 104 and 105 of Wang Cheong House.
The blaze spread to nearby Wang Tai House several minutes after 3pm, and by 4.04pm, seven of the eight blocks were on fire.
The inferno lasted for more than 43 hours, leading to the “catastrophic” death toll and 79 injuries. Nearly 5,000 people lost their homes.
A hundred people were found dead in flats, while the remainder died in common areas such as corridors and staircases.
Of the 1,736 flats across the seven blocks, 924 sustained various levels of fire damage.
2. Firefighter’s death
Sha Tin Fire Station firefighter Ho Wai-ho, 37, died at Wang Fuk Court.
The committee heard that Ho was taking part in a rescue operation at flat 2701 of Wang Cheong House, but he lost sight of his teammates after helping a wheelchair user and mistakenly entered Wang Tai House at 3.15pm.
He later transmitted a “mayday” call saying he was trapped on the 30th floor, without identifying which block he was in.
At 3.55pm, he was found lying on burning bamboo poles on open ground outside the block, unconscious. He was rushed to Prince of Wales Hospital but pronounced dead at 4.41pm.
Dawes said Ho might have fallen to his death while attempting to exit through a window.

3. Emergency call handling
The committee heard that emergency call referrals from police to the Fire Services Department did not all go through because of insufficient phone lines at the latter’s communication centre.
Emergency calls first reach police and are referred to the department if the caller reports a fire.
The longest referral took 15 minutes during the Tai Po fire, Dawes told the committee, while some calls ended before the force forwarded them to the department.
Some calls were not forwarded despite being about the fire, the committee was told.
On the day the blaze started, the department received 473 calls for help, and most of them were forwarded by police.
4. Deactivation of fire services installations
The committee heard that key fire services installations, including the alarm systems and firefighting booster pumps, had been deactivated for more than half a year. The fire services tanks in all eight blocks were also empty.
A technician with Wang Fuk Court management company ISS EastPoint told the panel he had turned off the main switches controlling power to both the pumps and alarms at all buildings.
He said he did so when he was assigned to help the renovation contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering, with draining the tanks.
A fire services equipment contractor, China Status Development and Engineering, said it had acted as a “rubber stamp” for Prestige’s submission of shutdown notices of fire services installations to the department 85 times without any on-site inspections.
Victory Fire Engineering, the annual inspection contractor for the fire services equipment, discovered the deactivation of the installations days before the blaze, but did not notify the fire department as it believed the matter was handled by another qualified contractor.
5. Combustible polyfoam boards
Another factor identified as contributing to the quick spread of the flames was the use of combustible polyfoam boards covering household windows during the renovation.
Residents had earlier raised concerns over the fire hazard to different government departments, but authorities failed to effectively follow up, the committee heard.
The Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, which oversees the maintenance of government-built residential complexes including Wang Fuk Court, said the boards were used temporarily and were not considered building works, so there were no regulations over their use.
The Buildings Department said it would generally regulate the use of polyfoam boards at construction sites, but the estate did not fall under its purview as it only oversaw private buildings.
The fire department initially defended its inaction over the boards, saying there was an unwritten division of labour where fire risks arising from construction sites should be handled by building authorities. But the department head eventually admitted before the committee that it had “ultimate responsibility” in mitigating fire risks.
6. Non-fire-retardant scaffolding mesh
After two super typhoons hit Hong Kong last year, much of the scaffolding mesh at Wang Fuk Court was damaged. Contractor Prestige allegedly erected non-fire-retardant nets to replace the damaged ones.
It also submitted an old fire retardancy report it used in 2024 to the Labour Department, which failed to detect the certificate was the one it had received before, the committee heard.
The department admitted it did not have the professional knowledge to verify the reports and only focused on the results shown.
The Buildings Department conceded it did not conduct any on-site inspections of the mesh netting before the fire and had long relied on reports submitted by contractors.
The committee also heard that the checking unit had inspected the mesh netting in response to resident complaints, but it had made appointments with the project consultant Will Power Architects one day in advance, effectively tipping off the contractor.
During a test conducted before unit officers, a flame on the mesh did not extinguish until a Prestige employee blew it out. But the unit did not raise any concerns, according to a video clip played at the hearing.
Such apparently substandard mesh was also blamed for the quick spread of the blaze, with frontline firefighters telling the committee the pace was abnormal.

7. Temporary exits on emergency staircases
Some fireproof windows in the emergency staircases of the eight buildings had been replaced by movable wooden boards to allow workers’ easy access to the scaffolding from the buildings, according to Dawes.
He said the openings had allowed thick smoke to enter the staircases, which prevented many residents from evacuating while also posing a danger to firefighters.
However, none of the government departments had identified or reported the issue, he added.
The committee heard that Prestige made applications to the checking unit for the alteration works. But the unit did not spot irregularities as it only ensured pictures submitted were clear enough.
The unit also said the Buildings Department had been conducting site safety checks since April 2023, but it only updated the practice with the unit in January this year.
Had the department informed the unit of the practice earlier, it would have had a “fairly high” chance of rectifying the problem, it said.
While inspections by the Labour Department uncovered the staircase openings, it did not order the fireproof windows to be reinstated, as it believed they “serve a purpose” by allowing workers to access scaffolding without climbing out when evacuating in case of a fire.
Labour officers’ testimonies sparked debate over a potential conflict between workers’ and occupants’ safety at the hearing.
8. Workers’ smoking
Dawes said the most likely direct cause of the fire was workers smoking on the scaffolding, citing a government investigative task force’s interim report, but he conceded there might not be direct evidence to prove the claim.
The Labour Department conducted 17 site inspections at Wang Fuk Court but failed to spot any workers smoking, despite residents repeatedly catching them doing so on camera.
Subcontractors and the owners’ corporation management committee also admitted they did not adopt any concrete measures to implement the smoking ban on the site.
9. Unregulated proxy votes
Some residents giving accounts at the hearing said a large volume of proxy votes usually appeared when voting on major decisions at the estate, including the one choosing Prestige as the renovation contractor, was about to end, effectively manipulating the results.
An ISS clerk also said the management office did not verify the authenticity of signatures on proxy votes.
Some residents had complained about suspicious proxy votes to the Home Affairs Department, but it told the committee it had “insufficient information” to follow up.
The cost of the project stood at HK$336 million after voting on January 28, 2024, picked Prestige as the main contractor and accepted the option it proposed, the most expensive on the table.
According to the Home Affairs Department’s record, there were 280 proxy votes out of a total of 570 at the voting.
Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong Pik-kiu was accused of exerting undue influence over the decision by bringing a team of “volunteers” to collect proxies.
Wong admitted that she had collected proxies in two meetings held in 2021 and 2024, but denied doing so for the voting that picked Prestige.

10. Alleged bid-rigging
Concerns over manipulation of the tender for the renovation project also emerged as at least five other bidders were found to have underlying relationships with Prestige.
Consultant Will Power allegedly secured a below-market price and subsequently misled residents into picking Prestige by highlighting its “clear” legal record, despite it being convicted 24 times for occupational safety breaches from 2017 to 2023.
The Urban Renewal Authority, which governs the Smart Tender system through which Prestige was picked, admitted the system was incapable of preventing any collusion between consultants and contractors, while giving residents a “false sense of security”.


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Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedy

What the public inquiry into deadly Tai Po blaze has revealed so far

Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Photo: Eugene Lee

The inferno broke out on November 26 last year when all eight blocks at Wang Fuk Court were undergoing exterior maintenance work. Photo: Eugene Lee

Firefighter Ho Wai-ho died battling the Tai Po blaze. Photo: Elson Li

The fire lasted for more than 43 hours. Photo: Karma Lo

Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong. Photo: Elson Li

45% of fire safety shutdowns run past new 2-month cap after Tai Po blaze

Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. At present, contractors are only required to notify the fire department by submitting a shutdown notice after deactivating fire safety systems. Photo: Jelly Tse

While the evidential hearing into the inferno has put fire safety under the spotlight, the SCMP found that some issues exposed during the inquiry were flagged in an Audit Commission report as early as 2013. Photo: Karma Lo

Nearly all residents of blaze-hit towers in Tai Po return to collect belongings

According to the government, more than 1,000 personnel from various departments were deployed each day of the operation. Photo: Eugene Lee

A social worker comforts a resident on Monday. Photo: Eugene Lee

A resident looks out the window of Wang Shing House. Photo: Eugene Lee

Banners saying “Wang Fuk forever” are seen on windows at Wang Tao House. Photo: Eugene Lee

News

Hong Kong

Society

Ahead of fourth round of hearings that begin on Wednesday, we unpack what has emerged about disaster during independent committee’s 21 sessions


Ahead of fourth round of hearings that begin on Wednesday, we unpack what has emerged about disaster during independent committee’s 21 sessions.


Explainers

Housing Department

What the public inquiry into deadly Tai Po blaze has revealed so far

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ahead of fourth round of hearings that begin on Wednesday, we unpack what has emerged about disaster during independent committee’s 21 sessions

Ahead of fourth round of hearings that begin on Wednesday, we unpack what has emerged about disaster during independent committee’s 21 sessions