Taipo fire kills at least 156 people ^{CEFR B2}

The Taipo residential fire on November 26 killed at least 156 people, injured 79 and left about 30 missing as of December 2. The blaze began at 14:51 on a lower level and spread with unusual speed; alarm levels rose to level three within ten minutes, level four within forty minutes and level five by 18:22. Social media livestreams captured flames climbing the green plastic safety netting and burning debris carried by wind to neighbouring blocks. Firefighters took about 15 hours to bring the blaze under control and 43 hours to extinguish it. One firefighter died and 12 were injured during rescue operations.

Wang Fuk Court, built in 1983, had received a mandatory building inspection order in 2016. The Incorporated Owners appointed Will Power Architects as the registered inspector after an open tender with 57 applications. Prestige Construction & Engineering Company won the work with a HKD 330 million bid in January 2024 despite reports of prior safety violations; repair work began in July 2024. Residents had complained about the flame-retardant properties of the safety netting and the use of foam plastic boards, which they say blocked windows and hindered escape. The Labour Department inspected the sites 16 times over 18 months, issued six warnings and three prosecution tickets related to industrial safety, but did not follow up on netting quality after a contractor certificate was produced. No authority had flagged the use of highly flammable foam boards before the fire.

In the days after the blaze, an anti-corruption authority set up a task force and arrested about a dozen people linked to the registered inspector and the construction company on suspicion of manslaughter and other offences. The Buildings Department suspended repair work at 30 sites run by Prestige and Fulam Construction following media investigation and public concern. Officials and some media blamed bamboo scaffolding for the rapid spread and called for metal scaffolding, while others pointed to alleged bid rigging, weak monitoring, certification failures and government inaction on complaints as the deeper problems. About 27,000 privately owned buildings were 30 years or older in 2024, and many more repairs are expected. The government offered temporary housing, cash aid and set up a fund that had raised HKD 1,600 million by December 1, but critics say financial help is not enough and demand a thorough independent inquiry into the causes, the bidding and the regulatory failures that preceded the fire.