A major fire engulfing multiple residential buildings at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po has killed at least four people, including a firefighter, and injured five others, according to the Fire Services Department (FSD).
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The FSD raised the alert for the deadly Tai Po blaze to a No. 5 alarm – the highest – at 6:22pm on Wednesday.
As of 6pm, five people are dead, while six others are injured: three others in a critical condition, one in a serious condition, and one in a stable condition.
Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung said the deceased firefighter, a 37-year-old surnamed Ho, belonged to the Sha Tin Fire Station and was dispatched to the scene at 3.01pm.
Ho was fighting the fire on the ground but lost contact with his team at around 3.30pm. Other firefighters discovered Ho, with burns on his face, on the ground outside Wang Cheong House at around 4pm and rushed him to Prince of Wales Hospital.
Ho, who had worked as a firefighter for nine years, was declared dead at the hospital at 4.45pm, Yeung said. He added that another firefighter was taken to hospital after suffering from heat exhaustion.
A Wang Fuk Court resident surnamed Ng told HKFP that he was at work earlier when he learned about the fire. His family, which included elderly members, evacuated from their flat safely.
The 40-year-old said he arrived at the scene at around 3:30pm and watched the buildings “catch on fire one by one.”
His eyes teared up as he watched the home he grew up in engulfed in fire. “My heart aches…” he said.
The housing estate is home to many elderly, Ng said.
The bamboo scaffolding was put up more than a year ago, as the decades-old residential estate required large-scale maintenance, he added. The maintenance work was set to be completed in three to six months.
Images circulating online on Wednesday afternoon show a major fire and a thick dark plume of smoke at Wang Fuk Court, where bamboo scaffolding has been erected around the housing estate’s eight blocks.
The FSD said it received reports of the fire at 2.51pm on Wednesday. It initially classified the blaze as a No. 3 alarm at 3.02pm before upgrading it to No. 4 – the second-highest alarm in Hong Kong – at 3.34pm. A firefighting operation is underway.
Local media reported that multiple residents were trapped in the blaze.
The Hong Kong Observatory has issued the Red Fire Danger warning since Monday, indicating an extremely high risk of fire.
The Tai Po District Office has opened temporary shelters for residents evacuated from the blaze, including at Kwong Fuk Community Hall, Tung Cheong Street Community Hall, and CCC Fung Leung Kit Memorial Secondary School.
A help desk has also been set up at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital for residents affected by the fire.
All lanes of a section of Tai Po Road near the fire site, as well as some nearby roads, have been closed, according to the Transport Department.
Last month, four people were hospitalised and dozens evacuated after a fire broke out on the bamboo scaffolding of a building in Central.
