A catastrophic fifth-alarm fire at the Wang Fuk Court public housing estate in Tai Po has become Hong Kong’s deadliest disaster in nearly 80 years.
The blaze, which ignited on the afternoon of November 26, 2025, raged for more than 43 hours, eventually engulfing seven of the eight residential towers in the complex and leaving nearly 5,000 residents homeless.
Investigators have pinpointed a combination of hazardous construction materials and system failures as the primary reasons for the fire’s unprecedented speed and lethality. At the time of the disaster, the 31-story towers were undergoing extensive external renovations and were completely encased in bamboo scaffolding and green safety netting.
Preliminary safety checks revealed that several samples of the mesh netting failed fire-retardant standards, while flammable expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) boards used to seal windows acted as a massive accelerant. This allowed the flames to leap vertically and laterally across towers, bypassing traditional firebreaks.
Furthermore, none of the fire alarms across the eight buildings successfully activated, leaving many elderly residents unaware of the danger until the corridors were already filled with thick smoke and extreme heat.
The legal and political fallout from the tragedy has been swift and severe. Hong Kong police have arrested 13 individuals on suspicion of manslaughter, including company directors and an engineering consultant from the firms responsible for the renovation project.
Separately, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating potential bribery and corruption related to the $330 million maintenance contract.
In the wake of the fire, the government has established a support fund and offered relocation subsidies, while professional bodies have proposed special legislation to acquire the heavily damaged properties and potentially convert the site into a memorial park.
