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Raymond Yeung

A citywide safety inspection of almost 500 mini-storage outlets kicked off on Tuesday in the aftermath of a deadly fire which took the lives of two firefighters.
A senior fire chief pledged to complete the task within two months, with priority given to more than 150 outlets without automatic sprinkler systems.
Around 20 officers from the Fire Services, Buildings, Lands and Labour departments arrived at a mini-storage warehouse in Tai Kok Tsui on Tuesday afternoon.
Electrical leakage may have caused deadly Ngau Tau Kok blaze, Hong Kong police source says
The warehouse is run by a major chain operator, which owns 46 storage outlets around Hong Kong. It could not be reached for comment.
Measuring around 2,900 square feet, the storage facility is the only one of its kind in the 11-storey building and has been running for around two years, according to the other tenant on the floor.
Records indicate the industrial complex was built in 1965. Current legislation only requires the installation of fire sprinklers in buildings completed after 1974.
Following a one-hour inspection, Fung Chung-kam, divisional officer with the Fire Services Department’s building improvement division, said the inspection task force would visit 154 mini- storage outlets – situated in 86 industrial buildings – without automatic sprinkler systems over the coming month.
He expected inspections of the remaining 333 mini-storage outlets located in 173 buildings to take another month.

If anyone was found to have violated regulations, the department would enforce the law, including issuing fire abatement notices to the operators, Fung said.
The authorities would also offer advice, such as asking the operator to consider adding security personnel, training staff on fire prevention and ensuring no dangerous goods were stored in the warehouses.
Did Hong Kong learn nothing from firefighter’s death six years ago?
In the long run, government departments will examine amending legislation to improve fire safety in storage facilities.
The safety of the city’s mini- storage units was called into question after firefighters battling the fourth-alarm blaze at SC Storage in Ngau Tau Kok described the facility as a complicated maze.
Part of the reason why the inferno took 108 hours to extinguish was the need to break down each of the cubicles, secured by padlocks installed by individual renters.
Information regarding the contents inside the cubicles was also limited. Dangerous goods such as compressed gases and substances that produced inflammable vapours were later recovered from the site.
Suspected category 2 and 5 dangerous goods were also found on the first, fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the building.
Such goods can only be used and stored in large quantities in premises approved and licensed by the director of fire services.
Apart from the two firemen who died battling one of the longest running blazes in the city’s history, 10 of their colleagues were also injured. They have all been discharged from hospital.


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Mixing art and dining, Hong Kong restaurant owners hope to rise from ashes of Ngau Tau Kok fire

Small businesses and arts groups flee from high rents ... only to end up in potential death traps in Hong Kong

Ngau Tau Kok fire

Hong Kong officials kick off inspection of mini-storage facilities in wake of deadly fire

Officers check fire protection systems at a mini-storage facility in Tai Kok Tsui. Photo: Felix Wong

Fourth-alarm blaze in the Ngau Tau Kok industrial building, Amoy Industrial Centre, continues. 24JUN16 SCMP/ Dickson Lee

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Inspectors will spend the next two months looking over facilities in almost 500 storage outlets, with initial emphasis on those without sprinklers


Hong Kong officials kick off inspection of mini-storage facilities in wake of deadly fire

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Inspectors will spend the next two months looking over facilities in almost 500 storage outlets, with initial emphasis on those without sprinklers

Inspectors will spend the next two months looking over facilities in almost 500 storage outlets, with initial emphasis on those without sprinklers