Deadly Hong Kong Tower Fire Puts High-Rise Fire Risks in Focus

Chongqing - A five-alarm blaze at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 26—one of the city’s deadliest in recent years—exposed how quickly flames can race up high-rise façades and how difficult it is to evacuate ageing, densely packed towers.

As of November 28, officials reported at least 128 deaths, 79 injuries, and about 200 people still missing. The fire is believed to have started on bamboo scaffolding and green safety netting wrapped around one of the estate’s eight 32-storey towers under renovation, before rapidly climbing the exterior and spreading to seven other blocks. Fire authorities said the blaze has been mostly put out, and search-and-rescue operations were officially called off on November 28.

Built in 1983 under Hong Kong’s subsidised home-ownership scheme, Wang Fuk Court contains nearly 2,000 flats and is home to about 4,800 residents, many of them elderly. Like many tall, ageing buildings across the city, it has been undergoing gradual safety upgrades. The estate was part of a major public-housing push in the early 1980s, when 30-storey towers became standard.

Authorities said thousands of domestic and mixed-use buildings completed before the late 1980s still fall short of current requirements for escape routes, fire doors, and basic fire-service installations. Residents and district councillors have long raised concerns about ageing fire systems and stairwell capacity.

Many residents said they never heard an alarm and only realised the danger when they saw smoke. As stairwells filled rapidly, some were forced to shelter inside their flats, while others tried to make their way down dozens of floors on foot.

Renovation of the exterior at Wang Fuk is now central to the investigation. Several towers were wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and protective netting for repair work, and investigators said foam or plastic boards were present around windows and on parts of the façade. 

According to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department, the combination of bamboo poles, mesh, and foam around the building, together with strong winds, appears to have helped the flames spread rapidly. Videos show fire racing up the scaffolding and burning debris falling from the structure. Police have since arrested three people connected to the renovation contractor on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence.

Across mainland China and overseas, the disaster is being viewed in the context of other high-rise fires where façades, scaffolding, and evacuation difficulties were key factors. In 2010, a fire in a 28-storey residential block in Shanghai undergoing exterior insulation work killed 58 people after flames raced up scaffolding and façade materials. In London, the inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy found that combustible cladding and insulation enabled a flat fire to surge up the building, claiming 72 lives.

Fires in high-rise residential towers in Gulf countries during the 2010s likewise prompted stricter rules on exterior panels. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction now classifies façade and cladding fires as a distinct risk category. In such densely populated towers, any delay in issuing warnings or any obstruction to escape routes can significantly increase casualties.

The Wang Fuk Court disaster also highlighted Hong Kong’s slow progress in upgrading ageing buildings and the intensifying debate over bamboo scaffolding. Critics argued that bamboo structures posed added risks in dense urban environments, while industry practitioners maintained that properly treated poles typically charred rather than ignited. Although existing guidelines required fire-retardant mesh and screening, the continued use of non-compliant materials and poor on-site management remained a major underlying problem.

On November 27, The Hong Kong Development Bureau has signalled that more new public works contracts will use metal rather than bamboo scaffolds and that checks on fire-retardant safety nets and sheeting will be tightened.