9,578 buildings have not complied with Hong Kong fire safety orders, with a fifth in same district as blaze-hit property
- Buildings Department says 9,578 properties have failed to obey orders to improve fire safety as of December last year, with compliance rate at about 37 per cent
- One-fifth of those buildings are located in Yau Tsim Mong, home to 60-year-old New Lucky House where blaze killed five and injured 43 others
More than 9,500 buildings in Hong Kong have not complied with fire safety orders, with one-fifth located in the same district as a 60-year-old property hit by a deadly blaze this week, prompting calls for legislative work to be sped up to ensure old structures are safe.
The scale of non-compliance was revealed following the blaze, which killed five people and injured 43 others in Yau Ma Tei on Wednesday, with the Buildings Department disclosing on Friday that more than 60 per cent of the orders it and the fire service had issued were not observed.
The department said on Wednesday night that blaze-hit New Lucky House had failed to comply with orders to upgrade fire safety installations issued 16 years ago, a “common” problem, according to a surveying industry representative.
Kenny Tse Chi-kin, chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors’ building policy panel, said scattered ownership, especially in mixed-use old buildings like New Lucky House, had made compliance with fire safety and maintenance orders difficult.
“They involve both residents and business operators. It will be difficult to reach a consensus. The stores may have been affected by the economy and find it hard to pay for maintenance,” Tse said on Friday.
Under the Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance, both the Buildings Department and the Fire Services Department inspect target buildings, including mixed-use and residential properties built before 1987. They can issue a “fire safety direction” to building owners, ordering them to upgrade equipment to current standards.
Among the 9,578 properties that had failed to comply with fire safety orders issued by the Buildings Department as of December last year, Yau Tsim Mong district, where New Lucky House is located, had the largest number of them, 1,843.
