A devastating fire tore through high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong and killed at least 36 people and left 279 missing.The hellfire raised an urgent question about why the blaze spread so quickly and what fuelled its deadly outburst.
An ‘unusual’ fire that crept with help of styrofoam
The disaster was one of the city’s worst in three decades. It ripped through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po on Wednesday, with flames and thick smoke engulfing the 32-storey blocks for more than ten hours.Fire services director Andy Yeung Yan kin said officers discovered styrofoam inside the burning buildings, which he believed made the blaze far more aggressive. According to the South China Morning Post, the styrofoam caused flames to travel rapidly through corridors and ignite flats on multiple levels. Yeung said that firefighters could only enter from the ground floor during the rescue because many floors were still burning into the early hours of Thursday. One of the biggest challenges was the sheer number of floors on fire at the same time.Security secretary Chris Tang described the speed of the fire as suspicious. He said preliminary checks found that the building’s netting and waterproof tarpaulin material burned much faster than regulated materials. “We have found that on the relevant building walls, the netting and waterproof tarpaulin material, once burned, showed spreading of the flames faster than [they should on] regulated materials. This is unusual,” Tang said. He confirmed that police and fire officers would carry out a full investigation, including a criminal probe into abnormalities.
888 firefighters deployed
At the height of the operation, 888 firefighters were deployed. Yeung said manpower was sufficient and that the department had already sent the maximum number of officers that the floor space could safely hold. He said crews were gradually moving upwards, trying to extinguish the remaining flames and reach trapped residents. “We are making progress and hope we can clear each floor as soon as possible,” he said.Authorities said more than 900 people took shelter in temporary centres as residents watched scaffolding frames collapse and smoke darken the sky. A firefighter was among those killed and 29 wounded survivors were in hospital. Hong Kong leader John Lee said the focus was rescue, support for the injured and recovery efforts before a full inquiry begins.From Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged an “all out effort” to control the blaze and reduce casualties, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Residents described hearing sudden loud noises before flames erupted, with many unsure if they would ever return home.
A level 5 threat
The fire was first logged as a No 1 alarm incident but was rapidly upgraded to No 4 by 3.34pm and then to the highest level, No 5, at 6.22pm. Hong Kong uses a one to five scale for fires, with the upper levels signalling the most serious situations.Video from the scene showed bamboo scaffolding outside several flats completely ablaze, with pieces of burning green construction mesh breaking off and falling to the ground.
