Hong Kong Blaze Death Toll Rises to 94; Contractor’s Troubled Past Exposed

The fire that broke out on the afternoon of November 26 at Hong Fuk Court (宏福苑) in Tai Po, Hong Kong, sparked a level-5 conflagration. As of 5:00 a.m. on November 28, the death toll has risen to 94. (Online screenshot)

[People News] A fire that erupted on the afternoon of November 26 at Hong Fuk Court in Tai Po triggered a level-5 blaze. As of 5:00 a.m. on November 28, the number of dead has risen to 94. Seventy-six people were injured, 12 of whom remain in critical condition, and more than 200 are missing. The flames have been almost completely extinguished. Residents went to temporary shelters at night to register information and look for relatives. Many residents said they still have not found loved ones. It is believed the number of fatalities in this fire will continue to climb.

Hong Kong Fire Services Department Deputy Director (Operations) Chan Hing-yung (陳慶勇) said on the 28th that firefighting operations at Hong Fuk Court are largely complete. Firefighters will blast open every unit in the seven buildings where the fire occurred to enter and search the units to ensure no one is trapped; the operation is expected to finish this morning. Currently most of the deceased are concentrated in Hong Cheong House (宏昌閣), where the fire started, and the adjacent Hong Tai House (宏泰閣); survivors have been found in different buildings.

A government spokesman said on the 28th that the fire injured at least 76 people, including 11 firefighters. More than a hundred people remain unaccounted for, but the exact number has not been updated since the morning of the 27th.

Hong Fuk Court is known locally and has a history of over 42 years. Before the fire, exterior wall maintenance was underway across the estate; bamboo scaffolding was erected around all the buildings to facilitate repair work. The blaze originated from the external scaffolding/netting of Hong Cheong House and spread upward, then affected several neighboring blocks.

Regarding the cause of the fire, public opinion has widely questioned the use of non-fire-retardant scaffold netting. Firefighters, while extinguishing the fire, found some external construction materials on the buildings that were more flammable and prone to spread than compliant materials—an “unusual” phenomenon.

On November 26, a Hong Kong netizen using the handle “Scott︱Monsterblockhk” posted on X, saying, “As a native-born Hong Konger, I can say tonight’s fire is absolutely man-made.”

In his post he cited three key problems that led to the fire.

Problem One: Some residents said that when the fire occurred the alarm failed to sound; dense smoke rushed in suddenly and many people had no time to escape.

Problem Two: Residents had repeatedly reminded maintenance workers not to smoke on site.

Most crucial is Problem Three: the maintenance background.

He wrote that “in early 2024, the estate’s owners’ corporation approved a major maintenance project totaling about HK$330 million for overall external wall refurbishment. The plan covered eight blocks and approximately 1,984 households; each household must pay in six installments, bearing about HK$160,000–180,000 per household.”

He also said residents were forced to pay, and the owners’ corporation, to save costs, carried out repairs on all eight blocks simultaneously, increasing the risk. The protective netting used was ordinary (non-specialized) flame-retardant material and did not function effectively. Instead, the scaffolding was more robust than the protective netting, indicating the problem was the “failure to use fireproof netting.”

Scott believes this fire was not a singular accident, but the result of cost-driven repair decisions and lax regulatory systems, compounded layer by layer by the lack of fireproof netting and a weak safety culture—an ultimately man-made disaster that culminated in a level-5 conflagration.

He noted that there is no final official investigative conclusion yet; we still must wait for the government to announce the cause. But in this world, one can imagine how much of the released information is true or false.

Although residents later succeeded in replacing the owners’ corporation, the old corporation had already signed a contract with Hong Ye, and the works were still forcibly carried out. Now seven blocks have been burned; warnings that the “scaffold netting is highly flammable” were previously ignored, and some politicians—such as district councillor Wong Pik-king (黃碧嬌)—criticized and accused skeptics of “spreading rumors,” but have now paid a painful price.

The Hong Kong Police’s New Territories North Major Crime Unit has launched an investigation and confirmed that firefighters found protective nets, protective film, waterproof tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, and other materials on the exterior walls of the burning building that may not meet fire safety standards; such materials were also found on unaffected buildings. Outside each elevator lobby window on every floor, flammable foam insulation was reportedly sealed in place, which cannot be ruled out as one of the reasons for the rapid spread of the fire.

In the early hours of November 27, Hong Kong police arrested two directors and one engineering consultant of the contractor Hong Ye Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. (宏业建筑工程有限公司) in Tai Po, Ngau Tau Kok, and San Po Kong. The three suspects, aged between 52 and 68, are all suspected of “manslaughter.” Hong Ye’s office in San Po Kong was simultaneously searched by police; large amounts of documents, computers and other evidence were sealed and taken away, and one man was led to a police vehicle with his head covered by a black cloth.

According to HK01, Hong Ye Construction was established in 2004; the current directors are Hou Huajian (侯華健) and He Jianye (何建業). Hou Huajian also holds seven other still-registered companies. Over the years Hong Ye has been involved in at least dozens of construction safety and regulation cases, including being charged in 2022–2023 for failing to ensure scaffolding was inspected by qualified personnel, and failing to ensure workers installed, modified, or dismantled scaffolding under supervision in the Ning Yeung Terrace project. In 2023 the two cases resulted in convictions with fines of HK$3,000 and HK$4,000 respectively.

Additionally, Hong Ye and its subcontractors have in the past been disciplined for violations of the Buildings Ordinance, including findings of negligent misconduct in two projects during 2012–2014 by the Buildings Department Disciplinary Committee: Hong Ye was barred from undertaking small works projects for four months and fined HK$50,000, and an authorized signatory was fined HK$5,000.

Netizens have also uncovered that since its 2004 opening, Hong Ye and its subcontractors have been prosecuted, warned, or ordered around 140 times across more than 30 estates in Hong Kong. This includes a 2009 incident in which a former shareholder was convicted for bribing a housing authority manager, and multiple citations from the Labour Department for violating site safety regulations.

Moreover, as early as February 20 last year, a netizen posted in the Facebook group “Hong Fuk Court Residents’ Exchange” that because several disciplinary cases against Hong Ye were unresolved, the small works contractor license was removed from the registry on February 18, 2023; although the general building contractor RGBC license applied for renewal in December 2023, it did not pass review for many months.

At that time the Buildings Department responded that because Hong Ye’s authorized signatory failed to convince the committee of his suitability, he was removed from the register; however, since the company still had other signatories who met the qualifications, the license was renewed.

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