What lessons can we learn from the fire at Wong Fook Court in Hong Kong?
“If it weren’t for my wife’s life-or-death phone call, I would be buried in the flames.” Mr. Yu, 75, sat on a folding chair at the temporary shelter, clutching his now-cooled phone tightly. This longtime resident of Hongfuyuan, who has lived there for 42 years, recalled that he was taking a midday nap at home when the fire broke out, completely unaware of the abnormality outside his window—the bamboo sheds and protective netting erected for exterior wall repairs tightly covered the windows, even blocking out the sirens of fire trucks. When his wife urged him to escape downstairs, he witnessed flames climbing upwards along the green protective netting, “reaching the top floor from the lower level in just a few seconds, like a burning venomous snake.”
The firefighters on site also faced unprecedented challenges. “The temperature inside the burning building exceeded 1,000 degrees Celsius. Sparks from the burning bamboo shed fell like a meteor shower, igniting adjacent buildings,” explained Cao Dang, instructor at the Wanbo Fire and Rescue Station, who participated in the interior attack. He added that the “V”-shaped building structure of Hongfuyuan created a natural “chimney effect,” and coupled with the level 7 gusts of wind that day, the fire spread rapidly between the buildings. The fire department eventually deployed 196 fire trucks, 98 ambulances, and more than 1,200 rescue personnel, employing a "coordinated internal and external attack" tactic to gradually bring the fire under control. However, the dense bamboo scaffolding and burning exterior wall materials repeatedly put the rescue operation in danger.
Management Failure: A Layer-by-Layer Safety Barrier
The fire at Hung Fook Court was not merely a tragedy of materials, but an inevitable consequence of a complete breakdown in the management system. This HK$330 million "sky-high repair" project was rife with irregularities and corruption at every stage, from bidding to construction.
Back in 2016, Hung Fook Court received a "mandatory building inspection notice" from the government due to its age exceeding 30 years. The owners' corporation subsequently appointed Hung Yik Architects Limited as consultant, and Hung Yip Construction Engineering Limited won the bid to become the contractor. Investigations revealed that a former shareholder of Hung Yip had been imprisoned for bribing Housing Society officials, yet received the highest B rating in Hung Yik's background assessment, while the other 57 bidding companies were rated C or below. Even more unusually, Hung Yip initially quoted HK$152 million, but after winning the bid, quickly revised the plan to HK$330 million, an increase of 117%. This meant each household had to bear an average repair cost of HK$160,000 to HK$180,000, forcing many elderly residents to use their life savings to pay.
“We proposed a more economical repair plan, which could have completed the necessary repairs for just over 100 million, but the corporation insisted on choosing the most expensive option,” Mr. Yu recalled. Some residents, questioning the reasonableness of the costs, ousted the previous corporation, only to find that the newly appointed corporation continued to push forward with the plan. Hong Kong media investigations revealed a typical “bid-rigging” phenomenon in the Hung Fook Court repair project, with a gray interest group manipulating the owners' corporation to profit by inflating project quotes, while completely ignoring the safety concerns of ordinary residents.
The chaotic management during construction was equally appalling. Residents repeatedly complained to the management about construction workers smoking in the bamboo sheds, but the problem remained unresolved. On the day of the fire, witnesses saw workers discarding cigarette butts near the fire's origin. Even more seriously, fire safety facilities were severely damaged during construction—smoke detectors on some floors were obstructed, fire exits were narrowed due to piles of building materials, and some construction workers even turned off the fire pumps for convenience, preventing timely water supply for firefighting in the early stages of the fire.
The property management's emergency response was practically non-existent. 75-year-old survivor Ms. Chen was trapped behind a deformed doorway and repeatedly called the property management's emergency number, but no one answered. She was only rescued by firefighters after nearly half an hour of unconsciousness in the thick smoke. "The fire hydrants in the stairwell were impossible to turn on, and the gas masks were long expired," Ms. Chen said. Her experience was not an isolated incident; many residents reported that the property management had never organized fire drills, and most people were unaware of escape routes and the location of fire safety equipment until the fire broke out.
Building Hazards: Common Problems in Old High-Rise Buildings
Hongfu Garden, an old high-rise residential building constructed in 1983, had its structural defects magnified during the fire, exposing common safety hazards found in similar buildings. The eight buildings in the complex are all 31-story tower structures with a "V"-shaped recessed design. While this facilitates lighting and ventilation, it creates a "fire-pushing effect" during a fire, accelerating the vertical spread of smoke. More importantly, Hongfu Garden was built before the implementation of Hong Kong's "Fire Escape Routes Code" in 1996 and did not have fire-resistant layers as required, allowing fire to spread freely between buildings.
Professor Fang Zheng of the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture at Wuhan University pointed out that rescue operations in high-rise building fires are already extremely difficult, and the structural defects of Hongfu Garden further exacerbated the risks. “The 31-story height exceeds the water supply limit of ordinary fire trucks, and the spiral steel staircases cannot cover all floors. Firefighters have to carry dozens of kilograms of equipment up the stairs, resulting in extreme physical exertion,” Fang Zheng explained. He added that the aging fire safety facilities common in older high-rise buildings are particularly pronounced in Hong Fuk Yuen – some fire hydrants have insufficient water pressure, and automatic sprinkler systems are malfunctioning due to years of disrepair, causing missed opportunities for initial fire suppression.
It is noteworthy that the problems at Hong Fuk Yuen are not unique to Hong Kong. In mainland China, there are millions of high-rise residential buildings over 40 years old, many of which also suffer from inadequate fire safety facilities, aging structures, and poor management. A survey of older residential areas in a northern city found that 30% of fire hydrants were not functioning properly, 50% of fire doors were deformed or damaged, and residents' fire safety awareness was also worrying. “High-rise fires are a global challenge, but through scientific management and facility upgrades, the vast majority of tragedies can be avoided,” Fang Zheng emphasized.
Reflections and Lessons Learned: Building a Safety Line at the Cost of Lives
After the fire was extinguished, Hong Kong society quickly launched rescue efforts and reflected on the situation. The SAR government activated an emergency resettlement plan, and 616 transitional housing units were quickly put into use, providing temporary home for 1,453 residents. Civil society spontaneously formed rescue teams; some citizens even developed a website overnight to report their safety; volunteers set up material distribution points and psychological support stations on-site, providing dedicated services for foreign domestic helpers and affected children. Simultaneously, accountability actions were carried out. Police arrested 13 people involved in the case on charges of manslaughter, including directors, consultants, and construction managers of engineering companies. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating corruption leads behind the scenes, and those involved could face up to life imprisonment.
At the institutional level, the Hong Kong government introduced a series of emergency measures: the Buildings Department required all ongoing construction projects to immediately review the flame retardancy of exterior wall materials and submit special reports; the Labour Department revised safety regulations to clarify flame retardancy standards for materials such as fireproofing mesh and expanding foam; and the Fire Services Department formed a special inspection team to conduct a comprehensive inspection of all old high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. Chief Executive John Lee emphasized that the fire safety system will be rebuilt with the "strictest standards and the most severe accountability," and that "the 156 lives lost must not have been sacrificed in vain."
This disaster also provides profound lessons for fire safety in high-rise buildings in mainland China. The "textbook" fire-fighting case in the Agile Cambridge County community in Panyu, Guangzhou, perfectly illustrates the importance of scientific prevention and control. In August 2025, a fire broke out on the 17th floor of the building. Neighbor Ye Jinfeng immediately used the fire hydrant on the balcony to suppress the fire. The property management activated the emergency plan within 3 minutes, and the fire department used a "coordinated internal and external attack" tactic to extinguish the fire in 44 minutes, with no casualties. Behind this success are the community's twice-yearly fire drills, regular facility maintenance, and close collaboration with the fire department.
Based on the experiences of both locations, the fire safety management of older high-rise buildings needs to build a complete "prevention-emergency-accountability" system. At the prevention level, it is mandatory to install fire-resistant layers and intelligent fire protection systems in old buildings, and to include flame-retardant material standards in mandatory clauses of engineering bidding. Regular inspections of fire protection facilities should be conducted. At the emergency response level, it is necessary to strengthen the linkage mechanism between property management, communities, and fire departments, promote the construction of "mini fire stations," and ensure that residents master basic escape skills. At the accountability level, the safety responsibilities of owners, property management, and contractors must be clearly defined, and a "zero-tolerance" policy should be implemented for violations to create a long-term deterrent.
In front of the charred buildings of Hongfuyuan, bunches of white chrysanthemums are quietly placed, the words "May there be no fire in heaven" on the cards dampened by rain. The loss of 156 lives has sounded the most painful alarm bell: there is no "good enough" in fire safety, only "100%"; the safety line cannot tolerate "small loopholes," and every oversight can lead to catastrophic disaster. Only by integrating the concept of putting life first into every detail of system design and implementing safety responsibilities in every position can we prevent similar tragedies from happening again and truly make high-rise residential buildings a safe haven for residents.
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