Deadly Hong Kong blaze kills many and exposes major safety failures.
Photo Credit: Cyril Yoshi / Wikimedia Commons
HONG KONG has been left reeling, heartbroken and bereft after what is being described as the deadliest fire in three decades engulfed seven of eight high-rise buildings in the Wang Fuk Court, a cluster of residential skyscrapers on Wednesday, November 26. After more than a day of battling the behemoth blaze, a death toll that currently stands at 128, and the arrest of eight suspects, the hundreds of firefighters and first responders managed to put out the flames at 10:18am in Hong Kong local time, or 3:18am Central European Time on Friday, November 28.
Death toll at 128, 200 still missing and 79 injured
Some 200 people are still unaccounted for as first responders are launching rescue operations to find survivors. The death toll is expected to continue to rise. Residents of the buildings were rushed to shelters, where they are still anxiously awaiting news from their neighbours and loved ones, and questioning how such a large-scale disaster could have happened. At nearby hospitals, 79 people are being treated for injuries.
The eight 31-storey buildings were home to some 4,600 residents in more than 2,000 flats.
Scaffolding and flammable materials believed to be at the heart of the incident
The fire, though the investigation into its origin has only just been launched, is believed to have spread quickly due to the bamboo scaffolding set up on the exterior of the buildings, a material common in the use of construction and works in the city. The government of Hong Kong had previously announced intentions to phase out the use of the material due to concerns about its safety. Additionally, investigators found “extremely flammable” styrofoam blocks covering some of the windows of one of the buildings.
Nearly a dozen arrested for suspected negligence, manslaughter
The Hong Kong anti-corruption agency arrested a total of eleven people, seven men and one woman from 40 to 63 years old, under suspicion of gross negligence, and three men on suspicion of manslaughter. The group included scaffolding subcontractors, directors of a consultant company, and project managers who were supervising the buildings’ renovation.
Additionally, some first responders found that the fire alarms in many of the flats had been non-operational, posing a significant safety concern.
Over the next few weeks, an official investigation will be launched into the origin and development of the disaster. Additionally, the government of Hong Kong has announced a scheme to provide aid to the victims who have lost their homes and all their belongings.
Countless volunteers are on the scene and helping the victims in shelters. Flowers are also being laid at the site of the disaster as the city of Hong Kong mourns.
Parallels to the Grenfell Tower and the Valencia tower block fires
The tragedy brings to mind the fire of the Grenfell block of flats in North Kensington, West London, which saw a 24-storey building burn for 60 hours in June of 2017. A total of 72 people died and more than 70 were injured in what was declared a major incident, with more than 250 London Fire Brigade firefighters, 70 fire engines from stations across Greater London, more than 100 London Ambulance Service crews in at least 20 ambulances, and specialist paramedics from the Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team on the scene to tackle the flames.
The Grenfell Tower fire was started by an electrical fault in a refrigerator on the fourth floor, and, much like the Wang Fuk Court disaster, was quickly spread by the highly flammable foam insulation positioned around window jambs. It was the deadliest fire in the UK since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform fire.
In February of last year, residents in the Campanar neighbourhood of Valencia also experienced a similar fire that tore through a residential building, with the flammable cladding on the outside of the building believed to have helped rapidly spread the uncontrollable flames. Ten people died and 15 were injured in the tragedy.
Additionally, on the same day that the Wang Fuk Court fire broke out, another fire broke out at the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena, terrifying patients and workers. The Santa Lucía Hospital fire was also believed to have been facilitated by the flammable exterior scaffolding.
Key takeaways from the Hong Kong tragedy
While a formal investigation has only just been launched, the incident has brought the matter of building safety and construction regulations into question for many of the stunned residents and saddened onlookers. Hong Kong’s code for the widely-used bamboo scaffolding requires that it be fire-retardant, though the code is not an actual law. Hong Kong authorities state their suspicions that construction materials found at the sites, including plastic covers, canvases, and protective nets, failed to meet safety regulations.
The failure of the fire alarms in many of the flats also called into question the safety regulations and maintenance procedures of the buildings. Despite smelling the smoke and even seeing flames on the scaffolding outside their windows, many surviving residents of the buildings are claiming never to have heard their smoke alarms ring.
The tragedy has highlighted the importance of building safety regulations and the abundant usage of flammable materials in scaffolding and building works. As Hong Kong and people from all over the world mourn their family and friends involved in the fire, onlookers anxiously await revelations from the upcoming investigations and hope that construction companies, architects, and authorities keep the victims at the forefront of their minds moving forward.
In Spain, the worry of fires during the year seems to be ever-present. The country saw nearly 400,000 hectares of land lost due to uncontrollable wildfires this summer.
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