Residents flee Hong Kong housing block after fire spreads to flats
- One person told officers they heard an explosion in the alley behind the North Point building, where blaze is thought to have started
About 30 people fled from a residential block in Hong Kong when a fire spread to at least two flats on Wednesday.
Emergency services were called at about 11.45am after reports of a blaze that broke out in an alley behind the 24-storey Parker’s Court on Fort Street, North Point.
One person told officers they heard an explosion in the alley, police said.
The Fire Services Department sent eight engines and one ambulance to the scene. The event was classed as a first-alarm fire, the lowest rating on the city’s five-tier scale of seriousness.
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A department spokeswoman said 30 residents fled the building before firefighters arrived.
At 12.50pm, she said: “Two units on the first and second floors of the building were burning and firefighters were using two jets to battle the flames.”
The blaze was extinguished soon after 1pm, according to the department, and no casualties were reported. Firefighters were investigating the cause.
The section of Fort Street was closed to traffic as firefighters battled the blaze.
