The plea by firefighters for more manpower is not just a predictable response to a major fatal blaze in Mong Kok on Sunday that stretched their resources and cost the lives of two colleagues. Fire safety is firstly about prevention and compliance with standards designed to save lives and property. Many thousands of our older residential and commercial buildings fall well short of modern requirements. Inspections and other measures to improve safety have proved a slow process. Firemen are being asked to carry an increasing share of the burden for it. They therefore have a point.
We owe a lot to the people who come to our aid in times of fire or accident. When they lose their lives in the line of duty, it is a loss to the community as well as to their family and friends. The ultimate sacrifice of the two firemen was an act of bravery in the finest traditions of the fire service. We will, however, have to wait for official investigations to throw more light on all the circumstances in which two others as well as the firemen lost their lives.
What we do know is that as a rule, the community's defence against fire is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. In this case residents, witnesses, district councillors and experts were quick to highlight weaknesses in the chain in the Nathan Road residential and commercial premises that became an inferno.
They are characteristic of problems that still plague old buildings in the district and other, older, urban areas. One district councillor said they included smoke doors that did not work, were left open or removed, illegal structures, old electric wiring, narrow staircases and a lack of sprinklers. Another said 90 per cent of commercial-residential buildings in the area failed to meet safety criteria. Former fire services director Anthony Lam Chun-man said he was shocked by the poor safety measures he found in a tour of buildings there.
Given the tragic fire history there, this is worrying. After 40 people died in the Garley Commercial Building fire in Jordan in 1996 and 17 more in a blaze in a Tsim Sha Tsui karaoke lounge shortly after, a survey found 80 per cent of older commercial-residential buildings had unsafe fire exits and smoke doors wedged open.
Under a new law to improve safety in pre-1987 buildings, the Fire Services and Buildings departments began inspecting 12,000 structures a year ago. Without more staff, the exercise could take years just to visit them once. Strengthening the inspection regime and, particularly, follow-up action to convince or compel owners to undertake the necessary improvements, would require considerably more resources. The impact on property owners and their tenants would also have to be taken into account.