A fire expert has said that combustible materials should not be used on the exterior walls of the apartment complex during construction work to prevent a repeat of last November’s deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court.
Testifying at a public hearing on Thursday, Asif Sohail Usmani, a fire engineering expert appointed by the independent committee presiding over the hearings, said such action was necessary as fire-rated scaffolding nets alone could not be relied upon to prevent fires.
On November 26, 2025, a fire engulfed seven residential towers at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.
On Thursday, Usmani, a fellow in the Department of Built Environment and Energy Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, recommended a ban on combustible materials on the exterior walls of existing buildings. It would include a ban on wooden boards and cardboard.
Other measures should be taken if these arrangements were not practical, such as installation of fireproof windows.
See also: Simulation finds substandard scaffolding grids caused flames to spread rapidly, inquest hears
He said he was aware that a complete ban on combustible materials would incur additional costs to the industry, but he maintained that such a move was necessary and would not require the replacement of bamboo scaffolding poles.
Pointing to the fire at London’s Grenfell Tower, Usmani said fires could still break out if individual materials were up to standard. The initial fire deformed the aluminum sheets in the building’s cladding, exposing the flammable plastic that acted as fuel, he said.
On Wednesday, the inquest heard that scaffolding nets that do not withstand fire it could have caused “secondary ignitions” that worsened the fire’s spread as wooden planks, foam boards and bamboo poles caught fire.
Blaze climbed through the light wells
During Thursday’s hearing, Usmani also said the closed wells at Wang Fuk Court intensified the “chimney effect,” where fire accelerates upward in a vertical space.
He also said the “jump effect” was evident, referring to the movement of fire from one residence to the one above it.
The fire spread at an “unprecedented” speed, about 10 meters in a matter of seconds, largely due to the configuration of the glowing light wells acting as a vertical shaft, Usmani told the committee.
He also noted the presence of combustible materials in the well, which exacerbated the rapid spread of the fire.
When assessing fire hazards, factors other than scaffolding must be considered holistically, such as the structure of the building and the presence of other materials, he said.
Usmani also made a number of other recommendations including banning combustible materials on the exterior walls of neighboring buildings, which is how the fire spread to seven of the eight towers on the property.
Lights in apartment complexes like Wang Fuk Court should also be considered vertical shafts that could intensify the spread of a fire, he said.
Usmani also laid out increased regulatory controls, particularly on renovation work in buildings where residents live.
Final submissions will be made on July 15th.
