Firefighters battle blaze at Hong Kong industrial building for 10 hours; 1 man injured, lanes closed
- Man, 22, sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital after inhaling smoke
- Firefighters say blaze ‘largely put out’ at 8.08 pm, after it was brought under control earlier in day
Firefighters took almost 10 hours to bring a blaze at a Hong Kong industrial building under control on Saturday, in an emergency that left one young man injured and forced the temporary closure of sections of a major road in East Kowloon.
A 22-year-old tenant of the building in San Po Kong was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei after inhaling smoke during the evacuation. Firefighters said the blaze was “largely put out” at 8.08 pm.
The blaze was upgraded to a three-alarm fire at 8.53am. Fires in Hong Kong are rated on an alarm scale of one to five according to their seriousness.
Authorities said the fire started at 5.17am at Wing Hin Factory Building in San Po Kong. According to the Fire Services Department, the blaze began at an electronics warehouse on the ninth floor. It was put out once at about 6am but flared back up at an unspecified time.
The department said it upgraded the seriousness of the fire due to the challenges posed by the high temperature and smoke coming from burning electronics and plastic components.
“During our efforts to extinguish the fire in the morning, we needed more manpower to conduct our rescue and evacuation efforts as there were some explosions and the blaze also returned,” Senior Divisional Officer Chan Fu-shan said.
The Transport Department announced at 11.41am that all lanes at Sze Mei Street between Luk Hop Street and Choi Hung Road were closed to traffic, as well as lanes of Ng Fong Street heading towards Sze Mei Street. The lanes still remain closed. At least eight bus routes were diverted.
Parts of Choi Hung Road, which connects to a nearby highway, were temporarily closed to vehicles earlier.
The blaze was brought under control at 2.50pm, after about 10 hours. The Fire Services Department at one point deployed five water jets and five teams of firefighters with breathing apparatus.
The 14-floor building, built in 1969, was undergoing renovations. Bamboo scaffolding and nets on its exterior also caught fire. Explosions were heard at the building as the fire raged, and the smell of burning plastic lingered in the air.
The ninth floor is home to a dance studio, offices, electronics manufacturers and several mini-storage units, among other types of tenants.
The fire was till burning at 6.15pm, preventing a full investigation, but a preliminary probe showed the building’s manual fire alarm system was not working properly, Chan said.
Authorities also said they would contact the contractor of the building’s repair work to ensure its exterior bamboo scaffolding was “safe and stable”.
About 300 firefighters and 17 paramedics were deployed, while 70 firefighting vehicles and seven ambulances were sent to the scene. Authorities evacuated seven people from the building.
In 2022, about 120 people participated in a mini-concert held in a party room located in the same industrial building. They were prosecuted for violating social-distancing rules.
