TAI PO, Hong Kong — Hong Kong authorities mounted a sweeping government-wide mobilization Thursday following a No. 5 alarm fire that tore through Wang Fuk Court, a public housing estate in Tai Po, killing at least 65 people—including one firefighter—and injuring 77 others in one of the city’s deadliest blazes in decades.
Chief Executive John Lee convened a second emergency cross-departmental meeting Thursday morning, directing all policy bureaus and departments to focus on four priorities: final firefighting and rescue operations, medical treatment for the injured, post-incident support for survivors, and a full investigation into the cause of the fire.
By Thursday evening, fires in seven of the estate’s eight affected blocks were largely under control, the government said. Firefighters continued searching upper floors of the remaining building. The Fire Services Department said it had received 346 calls for help and resolved 296 of them.
The government activated its rarely used “Government-wide Mobilisation” protocol, redirecting civil servants from non-essential duties and canceling or postponing all official celebratory events. Flags on government buildings will fly at half-mast, and memorial services and public condolence books are being prepared, with details to be announced later.
More than 500 displaced residents are currently housed in nine temporary shelters. Authorities have secured approximately 1,000 hotel and youth hostel rooms for immediate short-term stays of one to two weeks, while coordinating an additional 1,800 transitional and dedicated rehousing units expected to become available soon.
Medical stations staffed by more than 500 public and private doctors and healthcare workers have been set up at all shelters, operating daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to handle assessments, minor injury treatment, prescription refills, and psychological support.
Each affected household will receive an emergency cash grant of HK$10,000 starting Thursday night. A new “Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po” with an initial government injection of HK$300 million opened for public donations at 7 p.m., with designated Bank of China (Hong Kong) accounts published for local and foreign-currency contributions.
Social workers and clinical psychologists have been assigned on a “one social worker per household” basis, while the Education Bureau suspended classes at affected schools and deployed counselors to shelters.
In a rapid move to address potential building-safety lapses, police arrested two male directors and one male engineering consultant from the contractor handling renovation work at the estate. Officers seized scaffolding materials suspected of failing to meet fire-retardant standards.
The Buildings Department ordered all registered contractors and professionals overseeing any current external wall renovation projects citywide to submit fire-safety documentation for protective netting and scaffolding within seven days, with audits to follow. Large-scale inspections of buildings under similar renovation began immediately, and the government has requested additional testing capacity from mainland China.
The contractor involved at Wang Fuk Court is working on 11 other private residential sites, all of which were inspected Thursday.
The Development Bureau met with industry representatives to accelerate the long-discussed shift from traditional bamboo scaffolding to metal systems and pledged to review regulations governing scaffolding erection and fire-resistant protective materials.
Three high-level working groups—led respectively by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, and Deputy Financial Secretary—have been established to oversee inspections and regulation, emergency assistance and fundraising, and residential resettlement.
The fire, which reached the highest No. 5 alarm level, is the deadliest in Hong Kong since a 2014 blaze at a recycling site killed two firefighters. The government has promised a thorough investigation once the site is declared safe.
