Residential buildings continue to burn at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong Thursday. Hundreds are still missing following Wednesday’s fire.Isaac Lawrence/Getty Images
Police in Hong Kong on Thursday raided a construction company responsible for renovations at a public housing estate that was engulfed in a huge inferno which killed at least 65 people and injured dozens. Hundreds are still missing in the territory’s worst fire disaster since the Second World War.
The blaze, which began early Wednesday afternoon, spread rapidly between tower blocks at Wang Fuk Court, in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district, faster than firefighters could bring it under control.
All seven of the complex’s 32-storey apartment buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding wrapped in green safety netting, a common sight in Hong Kong, where renovations are often done to an entire building or estate at once, in marathon projects that can last months or even years.
Firefighters continued to douse the Wang Fuk Court apartments in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Thursday, over 24 hours after a huge fire began in the complex.
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Wang Fuk Court had been clad in the netting since July, 2024, frustrating residents, who were cut off from natural light for months as the project dragged on. Some residents told local media that after a typhoon earlier this year, netting that was blown away was replaced with new coverings. Others had begun to raise the alarm about potential fire risks, saying debris and trash was collecting in the nets, while both workers and residents were allegedly becoming careless with disposing of cigarettes.
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Cheap, durable, easy to transport and quick to erect, bamboo scaffolding has long been a symbol of Hong Kong’s development, used in the construction of many of the city’s most iconic buildings. But after several much smaller fires in recent years, officials moved in March to phase out the use of the material.
That decision was motivated by fears of precisely the type of disaster which occurred this week. But as firefighters continued to try and extinguish the fire Thursday, much of the bamboo scaffolding – which regulations require to be treated with a flame-retardant covering – appeared to have survived, while the netting had completely burned away on the worst affected building, and huge swathes of it were missing on others.
Jason Poon, chairman of the independent construction watchdog Chinat Monitor, pointed to long-standing concerns about shoddy netting being used on construction projects in Hong Kong. Last year, he posted a video online a hand-towel-sized portion of green netting much like that used at Wang Fuk Court burning up in less than a minute.
Writing on social media, Mr. Poon said “incompetent officials, indifference to complaints, and disregard for the law have led to global consequences,” and called for those responsible for overseeing fire and building safety in Hong Kong to resign.
Speaking to Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK, Lee Kwong-sing, chairman of Hong Kong Institute of Safety Practitioners, said there was “no law stipulating that flame-retardant materials must be used.”
“It is merely stated in the codes of practice by the Labour Department, so many people may not follow the requirements as it is not illegal,” he said, adding stronger supervision was also needed for construction and renovation projects.
“In the past, we often saw at maintenance sites that many workers, while working on exterior walls, held a lighted cigarette in their left hand and welding equipment in their right,” Mr. Lee said.
Firefighters said the intense heat at the height of Wednesday’s blaze was causing even fire-retardant materials to combust, and at one point a small fire erupted at a school across the river from Wang Fuk Estate, though this was quickly extinguished.
Early Thursday, police arrested three men aged between 52 and 68 linked to the company responsible for building maintenance at Wang Fuk Court. Officers later raided an office complex in San Po Kong and a private residence in Tin Shui Wai, and confiscated materials and documents relating to the renovation project.
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption has also launched a probe into the case.
Speaking to reporters, Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, said there was “reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties.”
A police statement said “protective nets, tarpaulins and plastic sheets used for the maintenance works may not have been up to fire safety standards.”
Police said they also found styrofoam sheets had been used to seal interior windows, with Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung describing them as “extremely flammable.”
“Their presence was unusual so we have referred the incident to the police for further inquiries,” Mr. Yeung said Thursday.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said inspections would be conducted on all housing estates across the territory currently undergoing major maintenance work, to ensure they are using safe scaffolding and other materials.
Ho Ping-tak, chair of the Kowloon and Hong Kong Scaffolding Workers Union, told RTHK that construction companies can save almost 50 per cent by using netting without fireproofing, which he described as “an incentive to some people to take risks.”
Mr. Ho questioned the decision to carry out renovations on all seven buildings at Wong Fuk Court at once, saying this was unusual.
“If you had separated the renovation works one by one, and divided them into different phases, the tragic situation we saw in yesterday’s ‘chain of fire’ might not have occurred,” he said.
Photos shared online showed workers at various projects across the city removing netting from scaffolding, though as of Thursday afternoon, The Globe could see multiple buildings still clad in green material similar to that used at Wang Fuk Court.
With the death toll from Wednesday’s fire expected to rise, it could yet outstrip the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster in London, which left 72 people dead and raised global concerns about fire protections at high-rise estates. In that disaster, a combustible cladding on the outside of the building allowed the fire to spread quickly, eventually consuming the whole structure.
According to official data, 33 people were killed in fire incidents in Hong Kong in 2024, around the same amount as the year before. By comparison, New York City, which has a population about a million greater than Hong Kong’s, recorded 78 fire deaths last year, and 104 in 2023.