HONG KONG: Thoughtless actions by multiple parties and the possible rigging of a renovation bid led to Hong Kong’s deadliest disaster in decades, a public inquiry into the Nov 26 Wang Fuk Court fire has heard.
An independent committee investigating the Tai Po tragedy, which killed 168 people and left nearly 5,000 homeless, closed its first of three rounds of evidential hearings on April 2.
The committee’s lead counsel Victor Dawes had said on the first day of the hearings on March 19 that human factors rendered ineffective almost all the housing estate’s fire safety measures.
The eight hearings since then have revealed that staff of Wang Fuk Court’s property manager ISS EastPoint, fire safety contractor Victory Fire Engineering and renovation contractor Prestige Construction displayed disregard for fire safety issues at the estate.
The inquiry heard that Prestige’s clinching of the HK$336 million (US$43 million) renovation project at the estate – despite several criminal convictions for repeated safety breaches – could have been aided by bid-rigging syndicates.
Prestige’s employees also knew of upcoming government inspections from its consultant Will Power Architects, which was notified a week in advance by Housing Bureau officials.
The early warning – which Senior Counsel Dawes described as “deeply concerning” – allowed Prestige’s subcontractor to “tamper with” its substandard equipment beforehand.
Extensive renovations commenced at Wang Fuk Court in July 2024. When the blaze hit on Nov 26, 2025, the fire alarms in all eight of its towers failed to go off, preventing many residents from evacuating in time. Its water tanks connected to firefighting hose reels were also empty.
The recent hearings revealed that property manager ISS’ staff deactivated the estate’s fire safety system despite knowing that by law, only a registered contractor is permitted to disable it.
The ISS electrician who shut down the system months before the blaze did so to turn off the estate’s hose reels so that its water tanks could be drained for repairs.
He said he was ordered to help Prestige empty the tanks, and complied even though he knew he was not authorised to do so, as he “was worried (he) would be penalised” if he refused.
He was unaware that disabling the main switch cut off the power to the entire estate’s fire alarm system, or that he could have turned off just the water pumps via another switch.
Separately, the inquiry heard that the director of fire safety contractor Victory discovered a week before the blaze that the main switch was turned off, but did nothing beyond telling his staff to inform ISS of the matter.
“I may have been influenced by a deep-rooted mentality in this trade: Don’t tell others how to do their jobs,” the director said. “Even though I sensed a problem, I could only remind them.”
The authorities have pinpointed substandard green mesh encasing the buildings’ exterior and flammable styrofoam boards affixed to the windows outside the flats as the key reasons for the fire’s rapid spread.
Dawes said there was clear evidence that renovation contractor Prestige ordered its scaffolding subcontractor to substitute the green mesh earlier damaged in typhoons with a cheaper, non-fireproof one.
Compliant nets were bought and used to replace a small portion of the substandard ones only after Prestige learnt of an upcoming safety check by the authorities, he said.
The inquiry heard that Wang Fuk Court’s residents were misled into picking a convicted contractor to renovate their estate.
Prestige has a long record of safety offences. It was found guilty of workplace breaches 24 times between 2017 and 2023.
At Wang Fuk Court, it was thrice prosecuted for safety violations, and was last warned on Nov 20 to step up its fire safety measures there.
Law enforcers are also looking into whether fraud was committed in the tender process for the hefty renovation project.
Prestige was the priciest of 57 bids for the job; its criminal record was amended to “clear” in an evaluation report; and 570 votes were cast in the selection process despite only 293 residents and proxies being present, the inquiry heard.
The hearings also revealed that residents’ repeated complaints about construction workers smoking on site and using styrofoam boards on the buildings’ exterior went unaddressed.
Different government departments said those matters were not under their purview, residents testified.
The government’s lawyer Jenkin Suen acknowledged during the March 24 hearing that the authorities had failed to appropriately comprehend the issues that plagued the Wang Fuk Court renovation project, and that they needed to review their shortcomings.
He said, however, that the authorities did not “tip off” Prestige ahead of their safety checks as was alleged, adding that there was a practical need to inform the contractor beforehand to facilitate the inspections.
“The government bears unshirkable responsibility. It has to learn the lesson and prevent similar tragedies from happening again,” Senior Counsel Suen told the inquiry.
The independent committee is led by judge David Lok. The three rounds of hearings end on April 30, and the panel is expected to complete its investigations around September.
The police are conducting a criminal investigation related to the fire and have arrested more than 30 people on charges including manslaughter and fraud.
The city’s anti-graft watchdog has also arrested more than 20 people involved in the matter.
It has nabbed 42 people in a separate operation cracking down on triad infiltration of building maintenance projects. - The Straits Times/ANN
