Hong Kong tower-fire closing submissions | Contractor forged fire certificates, four safeguards switched off
TL;DR
Closing submissions in the Hong Kong Wang Fuk Court fire (168 dead) accuse contractor Hong Yip of non-flame-retardant materials and forged fire certificates, while three government watchdogs all failed.
The maintenance-project fire at Hong Kong's Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po last November 26 burned for 43 hours, spread through 7 of 8 towers, and killed 168 people. On July 17 the independent committee held its 30th and final hearing; counsel for the committee, led by senior counsel To Kum-kwan, put it plainly in closing submissions: the fire could have been foreseen but wasn't, could have been prevented but wasn't.
The submissions argue main contractor Hong Yip Construction used large amounts of non-flame-retardant safety netting and foam boards on the facade, and handed the Housing Department's independent review team fire-safety certificates that were likely forged or untrue. The review team had wrongly stated the law didn't require the temporary materials to be flame-retardant, brushed off 41 resident complaints, and even tipped off the contractor before inspections. Workers cut open stairwell windows for access, wrecking the smoke barrier.
The government's own checkpoints fell one by one. The Fire Services Department received 93 notices that fire-safety installations were switched off and did no substantive verification; across 26 site inspections it never entered a fire pump room, missing that the water tanks were empty and the main power switches shut off. The Labour Department inspected 17 times in 18 months, issued no prosecution over workers smoking, and twice accepted the same likely-forged flame-retardant certificate.
Expert modelling showed the non-flame-retardant material combination let a local fire climb vertically up the light well into a "fire column," with smoke backdrafting into stairwells and sealing off escape. The committee's counsel recommend on-site verification, surprise inspections, tougher criminal enforcement and professional discipline, because the current maintenance regime leans too hard on industry self-regulation.
93 shut-off notices in the fire department's files, 41 complaints on the Housing Department's desk — and when the fire started, the alarm and fire systems in most towers had already failed.
via Caixin / Report (English)
The submissions argue main contractor Hong Yip Construction used large amounts of non-flame-retardant safety netting and foam boards on the facade, and handed the Housing Department's independent review team fire-safety certificates that were likely forged or untrue. The review team had wrongly stated the law didn't require the temporary materials to be flame-retardant, brushed off 41 resident complaints, and even tipped off the contractor before inspections. Workers cut open stairwell windows for access, wrecking the smoke barrier.
The government's own checkpoints fell one by one. The Fire Services Department received 93 notices that fire-safety installations were switched off and did no substantive verification; across 26 site inspections it never entered a fire pump room, missing that the water tanks were empty and the main power switches shut off. The Labour Department inspected 17 times in 18 months, issued no prosecution over workers smoking, and twice accepted the same likely-forged flame-retardant certificate.
Expert modelling showed the non-flame-retardant material combination let a local fire climb vertically up the light well into a "fire column," with smoke backdrafting into stairwells and sealing off escape. The committee's counsel recommend on-site verification, surprise inspections, tougher criminal enforcement and professional discipline, because the current maintenance regime leans too hard on industry self-regulation.
93 shut-off notices in the fire department's files, 41 complaints on the Housing Department's desk — and when the fire started, the alarm and fire systems in most towers had already failed.
via Caixin / Report (English)
