Hong Kong authorities are extending an operation targeting poorly maintained fire safety equipment for another two years, aiming to inspect 5,000 high-risk old buildings after an initial phase resulted in 75 prosecutions. Law Kin-san, acting senior divisional officer for policy at the Fire Services Department, said on Thursday that ad hoc checks on high-risk buildings…
Stories filled with tragic bravery, outrage at heedless officials and horror as loved ones perished were among those shared by 24 residents of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court estate, as they testified at a public hearing investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. Over multiple sessions that began on March 19, some told the presiding…
Hong Kong’s security chief has reaffirmed that fire services will act as the gatekeeper for safety after a legal vacuum was exposed during an inquiry into the city’s deadliest fire in decades, stressing the department’s existing manpower could cope with expanded oversight duties. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Tuesday reiterated the pledge earlier…
The independent committee tasked with investigating Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po blaze has finished 21 sessions of evidential hearings in three rounds, pointing to multiple apparent 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…
Almost half of notices filed to deactivate fire-fighting systems over the past two years for maintenance involved renovation projects that lasted longer than the maximum two months allowed under new rules introduced after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, official data has shown. A spokesman for the Fire Services Department told the South China Morning…
Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department has yet to launch prosecutions in 34 cases involving mini-storage premises that failed to comply with safety hazard orders, including sites first inspected as far back as 2016, the Audit Commission has said. The commission also revealed on Wednesday that none of the 249 industrial buildings required to improve fire…
Hong Kong authorities launched 18 joint operations against illicit refuelling stations this year amid a global energy price surge, with the customs chief noting the practice has become increasingly common in urban areas. But Commissioner for Customs and Excise Chan Tsz-tat said on Saturday that despite the upwards trend, illegal refuelling was not widespread locally….
Hong Kong authorities are planning to launch a public consultation over a raft of new fire safety-related requirements and offences with tough penalties following the city’s deadliest blaze in decades. Confirming an earlier report by the South China Morning Post, the Security Bureau on Friday laid out its planned amendments to the Fire Services Ordinance,…
Hong Kong’s fire services chief has acknowledged that better communication with building authorities is needed after an independent committee earlier revealed that his officers had taken no action against possible safety breaches during renovations at Wang Fuk Court, where 168 people were killed in last year’s inferno. But Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung Yan-kin…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The head of the Fire Services Department will give evidence on the 19th day of evidential hearings into Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, becoming the most senior official to testify to date. Director…