Editorial | Continue crackdown on fire hazards in Hong Kong
Lives are at stake in many old buildings in Hong Kong and it is incumbent on the authorities to make sure vigorous inspections are carried out routinely
Fatal blazes in old buildings in Hong Kong often spark a crackdown on violations of fire safety that are commonly found in mixed-use structures. Last April’s blaze in New Lucky House in Yau Ma Tei, which cost five lives, is a case in point.
The Fire Services Department reported an astonishing 8,500-plus safety warnings for 600 such high-risk properties, between April and November. This has prompted the department to ramp up its crackdown next year with a special team that will identify buildings for inspection from the service’s own data.
The focus of the inspections includes “three-nil” buildings – those that have neither an owners’ corporation nor a residents’ organisation and are not managed by a property management company.
Wong Yuk-ping, the department’s acting deputy chief fire officer in building improvement, says data from this year’s inspections showed that “three-nil” buildings and old properties with multiple stairways posed greater fire-safety risks involving escape paths and doors.
Stairways that were not frequently used were often blocked. The properties had both residential flats and commercial units, including licensed guest houses.
The most common hazard was smoke doors that were not properly closed, with 2,484 related notices issued. Broken smoke doors accounted for 2,142 notices and blocked escape passages were the subject of 1,797.
