Coroner urges authorities to license Hong Kong’s mini-storage industry to ensure compliance with fire safety, after firefighters’ deaths in 2016 blaze
- Two firefighters died battling one of the city’s longest-running blazes in a storage facility in Ngau Tau Kok
- Out of 1,222 premises inspected as of April 30 this year, a total of 3,222 common fire hazards were found in 959 of these facilities
Hong Kong’s coroner has urged authorities to issue licences to mini-storage premises to ensure compliance with fire safety rules after he returned a verdict of death by misadventure for two firefighters who died after battling an inferno at an industrial building nearly six years ago.
Coroner Philip Wong Wai-kuen on Tuesday ruled that poor communication within the fire service and a lack of fire safety awareness among those operating and managing storage cubicles contributed to the fatal blaze at Amoycan Industrial Centre that raged from June 21 to June 25, 2016.
The fourth-alarm fire in Ngau Tau Kok was the longest-running blaze at an industrial premises in Hong Kong history, having burned for 108 hours and 16 minutes. It was the seventh-longest of any fire in the city.
Senior Station Officer Thomas Cheung, 30, and Senior Fireman Samuel Hui Chi-kit, 37, were killed on the first and third day of the operation, respectively, as they battled the flames inside the SC Storage facility on the third floor of the then 66-year-old industrial complex.
