New | Search under way for cause of third-alarm fire in Hong Kong residential building
Fire Services note the structure’s fire installations were unstable, hindering efforts to put out the blaze
Fire authorities are investigating the cause of a third-alarm fire that ripped through a residential building on Hong Kong Island on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of more than 20 residents and bringing area transport to a standstill for hours.
Police officers, firefighters and paramedics descended upon Kai Ming Building located at 364-366 Hennessy Road in Wan Chai after receiving report of the blaze at 12.47pm.
Flames and black smoke were seen billowing from the eighth floor.
In total, 100 firefighters, 16 fire engines and six ambulances were deployed.
Lam said the department was investigating a malfunction in the 15-storey building’s fire installations, which were found to be unstable.
“As a result, firefighters had to get water from fire hydrants on the street and lay hoses to the eighth floor,” he said, noting that the blaze broke out in an eight-floor flat and ignited items fell into a sixth-floor flat.
Lam said nobody was in either unit at the time.
Police said 20 residents were evacuated. Firemen led 11 to safety during the blaze. Four felt unwell after inhaling smoke.
Two elderly people – a man and a woman – were sent to Ruttonjee Hospital. Police said the two were conscious while being carried into an ambulance.
Traffic in the busy Hong Kong Island district became snarled as police officers cordoned off the area.
As of 4.45pm Tuesday, a westbound section of Hennessy Road remained closed to traffic.
Affected bus routes were diverted. Tram services between Victoria Park and Arsenal Street as well as the Happy Valley loop were disrupted but resumed at 3.05pm.
The fire was upgraded to a third-alarm fire at 1.03pm as more manpower and resources were called in. The department said the blaze was largely put out at 2.07pm.
Josephine Fung, 30, a kitchen worker at a fresh food stall on the corner of Marsh Road, saw the fire coming out of the building around 1pm.
“There was a lot of smoke and the fireman did not start spraying water until half an hour had passed,” said Fung.
Bookstore employee Yuen Hin-shan, 24, working at a building on Hennessy Road opposite the fire, said she went out for lunch and saw the fire on her way back.
“I can’t go back into the building as the police have closed off the street,” she said.
Jayden Choi, 27, a hairdresser working at Hair’s Way, also on Hennessy Road, said she saw two air conditioners fall on the street during the blaze but they did not hit anyone.
“It was like a fireball falling down,” she said.
“I didn’t notice residents coming down the building but people were busy collecting their clothes hanging outside and closing the windows.”
Tony Lau, 20, recalled the horrifying moment when he received a call from his mother who lives on the fourteenth floor when the fire broke out.
“She called me and said a fire broke out,” he said. “I was nearby at the time and I immediately ran to the building. My mum then told me she ran up to the roof and there were firemen with her.”
A German national who only gave his name as Julius was inside his second-floor flat when the fire erupted.
“I looked out the window and there was a lot of smoke,” said the 20-year-old, who was in the city for an internship that had only begun this week.
