A war of words broke out at a meeting yesterday between angry residents of the historic fishing village Tai O and firefighters amid claims that Sunday's devastating blaze was not tackled quickly enough.
Tai O station assistant divisional officer Cho Wing-nin said firefighters had arrived at the scene six minutes after the alarm was raised, but residents refused to believe him.
The fire, which made more than 300 residents homeless and destroyed about 90 historic stilt huts, broke out at 12.36am on Sunday. Mr Cho said firemen reached the scene at 12.42am. The blaze was upgraded to a fourth alarm - the second most serious alert - at 2.22am. A total of 144 firemen put out the fire at 5.55am.
Retired fisherman Kwok Yiu-fai, 59, said: 'I am sure the firemen did not arrive that early. That six minutes record is definitely made up. I only believe what I witnessed.' Mr Cho said: 'We would be happy to produce our computer records to show our time of arrival.' He said wind direction and the explosion of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders had delayed their efforts to put out the blaze.
Homeless villagers protested outside the fire station on Sunday, saying firefighters took too long to arrive and operate water jets. Mr Cho said firefighters were operating the jets within 13 minutes of arrival.
Ho Ah-sing, 65, a retired fisherman, said he would prefer to return to the site where his squatter hut once stood, but lacked the money to build another home. 'I have no choice but to move to Lung Tin Estate,' he said.
