Hong Kong's Fire Services Department concluded its investigation into the Wang Fuk Court inferno, referring contractors China Status Development and Engineering and Victory Fire Engineering to a disciplinary board for alleged negligence in deactivating fire systems. Both firms reportedly continue operations.
A 59-year-old triathlon participant in Hong Kong was found dead after going missing during the swimming leg of the 2026 Summer Triathlon Challenge amid an amber rainstorm warning. Rescue efforts located him hours later.
Hong Kong's Fire Services Department announced paramedics will follow an "if in doubt, rescue first" principle for resuscitation after a new end-of-life directives law takes effect next week. Rescuers must verify physical do-not-attempt CPR orders on-site before withholding life-sustaining treatments.
A van driver has been arrested in Hong Kong after a crash on the Tsing Sha Highway killed two passengers, an off-duty firefighter and his wife. The couple were ejected from the taxi during the collision and pronounced dead at the scene.
Three elderly hikers (70s) missing in Sai Kung, Hong Kong, found after 12-hour rescue; no hospital treatment needed.
A fire in a subdivided flat in Hong Kong's Man Yuen Building on Thursday night resulted in one death and four injuries. The blaze, which broke out in a 62-year-old building undergoing renovation, prompted the evacuation of 300 residents. The cause is under investigation.
Hong Kong's Fire Services Department will conduct ad hoc checks on high-risk buildings, prioritizing residential blocks with scaffolding nets and those undergoing major renovations due to increased evacuation difficulties during fires.
Hong Kong’s security chief has reaffirmed that fire services will act as the gatekeeper for safety after a legal vacuum was exposed during an inquiry into the city’s deadliest fire in decades, stressing the department’s existing manpower could cope with expanded oversight duties. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Tuesday reiterated the pledge earlier made by Fire Services Department director Andy Yeung Yan-kin during the hearings into the inferno at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. The...
Official data reveals that 45% of fire-fighting system shutdown notices in Hong Kong over the past two years involved renovation projects exceeding the new two-month limit. Of 12,558 notices issued in 2024-2025, 5,674 lasted more than two months, 2,663 extended beyond six months, and 44 lasted over a year. The tightened regulations were introduced after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po last November.
The Audit Commission revealed that Hong Kong's Fire Services Department has not launched prosecutions in 34 cases involving mini-storage premises that failed to comply with safety hazard orders, including cases dating back to 2016 inspections. None of the 249 industrial buildings required to improve fire safety measures have complied with orders under a 2020 law. The findings come after a deadly blaze at Ngau Tau Kok in June 2016 killed two firefighters and took 108 hours to extinguish, prompting citywide inspections of mini-storage facilities.
The head of Hong Kong's Fire Services Department testified before an independent investigation committee about the deadliest fire in the territory since 1948. Director Andy Yeung Yan-kin admitted fire and building authorities could have collaborated better on fire safety risks at the Wang Fuk Court estate in Tai Po, where 168 people died in November 2025. The blaze engulfed seven of eight high-rise buildings undergoing renovation, displacing nearly 5,000 residents.
The head of Hong Kong's Fire Services Department will testify at evidential hearings into the city's deadliest fire since 1948, which killed 168 people at Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po last November. Director Andy Yeung Yan-kin admitted fire and building authorities could have collaborated better and said the FSD is seeking to amend legislation on fire services installation contractors.
The Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung Yan-kin will testify on April 19, 2026 at the independent inquiry into Hong Kong's deadliest fire since 1948, which killed 168 people at Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po last November. He becomes the most senior official to give evidence to date, with on-site commander Derek Armstrong Chan already defending decisions not to activate the Emergency Alert System and conceding the fire alarm should have been raised earlier.
An independent committee investigating the deadly November fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Hong Kong, heard that the emergency mobile phone alert system would have taken up to an hour to activate and would have offered little help to fire services. The blaze killed 168 people — the deadliest in Hong Kong since 1948 — and displaced nearly 5,000 residents. The inquiry revealed that a property management employee accidentally disabled fire alarms while switching off hosepipes for repairs, and suggested five of seven affected towers caught fire at a late enough stage that evacuation might have been possible.
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The role of Hong Kong’s fire service remained under the spotlight on the 18th day of evidential hearings held by an independent committee investigating the catastrophic blaze at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court. Three officers from the Fire Services Department testified on Thursday before the judge-led panel. Four of their colleagues gave accounts the previous day of...
An independent committee investigating Hong Kong's deadliest fire since 1948 held its 18th day of hearings on Thursday, with three Fire Services Department officers testifying. The November 2025 blaze at Tai Po's Wang Fuk Court killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents. Assistant director Michael Yung Kam-hung admitted the department lacked written documentation outlining division of labour with building authorities, and that frontline staff were unclear about their scope of duties.
Three Fire Services Department officers are testifying before a judge-led independent committee investigating the Wang Fuk Court fire that killed 168 people on November 26, 2025. Assistant director Michael Yung Kam-hung admitted the division of labour between the fire service and building authorities was not stipulated in written documents, calling the unclear duties among frontline staff "unacceptable". The blaze engulfed seven of eight buildings undergoing renovation in Tai Po, Hong Kong's deadliest fire since 1948.
A public inquiry into Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has exposed confusion among government departments over their roles in supervising large renovation projects, with a fire services officer insisting his department is not responsible for handling complaints about flammable building materials because it lacks expertise in construction. Michael Yung Kam-hung, an assistant director of the Fire Services Department, said on Wednesday it did not take legal action over breaches discovered...
