Advertisement
Old buildings in Hong Kong should ‘at least meet standards set two decades ago’ says surveyor after second deadly fire in 14 months
Vincent Ho’s call came as little progress has been made in improving fire safety measures in old buildings since two firefighters were killed in blaze at mini-storage facility in Kowloon Bay last June
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Hong Kong’s old industrial buildings need a fire safety facility upgrade and should at least meet standards set two decades ago, a veteran surveyor warned after a deadly blaze in a 45-year-old industrial building .
Vincent Ho Kui-yip’s call came as little progress has been made in stepping up fire safety measures in old industrial buildings more than a year after two firefighters were killed in a blaze at a mini-storage facility in Kowloon Bay last June.
The city’s security chief, John Lee Ka-chiu, said on Sunday that the government planned to table a draft bill aiming to improve fire safety equipment in old industrial buildings in the coming legislative year, after a fire at Mai Sik Industrial Building in Kwai Chung killed three people on Saturday.
The 6,000-sq ft unit on the 10th floor where the fire broke out had been subdivided into 17 separate rooms, and a preliminary investigation carried out by the Buildings Department found some of the alteration work had failed to meet the safety standards for fire escapes and fire-resistant construction.
Advertisement