Day 10 of Tai Po probe: fire department admits delays, ‘inadequate’ safety assessments
Assistant director of Fire Services Department says shutting down fire systems not necessary for draining rooftop tanks
An independent committee examining the causes of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades completed its 10th day of evidential hearings on Friday.
The session focused on the Fire Services Department’s handling of shutdown notices for the fire safety systems at Wang Fuk Court, the Tai Po housing estate where 168 people were killed in the catastrophic blaze last November.
Keung Sai-ming, an assistant director for the department on licensing and certification, gave his testimony before the judge-led panel. He was the first government official to appear before the committee.
Victor Dawes, the committee’s lead counsel, earlier identified six “human factors” that led to the disaster, including empty water tanks and deactivated fire alarms across the eight blocks of the estate, which was under renovation at the time.
The committee previously heard that a technician from the estate’s then property management firm, ISS EastPoint, had turned off the main switches controlling the power supply to both the firefighting pump and fire alarm systems, effectively deactivating both systems.
ISS claimed this was to help the estate’s renovation contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering Company, drain the fire services tanks for maintenance.
At the last hearing on April 8, fire services installation contractor China Status Development and Engineering admitted it had acted as a “rubber stamp” for Prestige by issuing shutdown notices without inspecting the site, potentially breaching fire safety regulations.
Follow our live updates on the 10th day of the hearings.
More from our coverage: