A fire station officer stationed at the fatal Wang Fuk Courthouse fire has told an independent committee that the Fire Services Department (FSD) has no standard operating procedures for dealing with alarm systems that fail during a fire.
Tai Po fire station senior officer Ho Kin-on gave evidence on Monday, the 11th day of hearings investigating the Tai Po fire that killed 168 people, including a firefighter.
“Would it be of much greater help if there were clear instructions?” asked Lee Shu-wan, a lawyer representing the independent committee.
“Agreed,” Ho replied, adding that the operational response would depend on the orders of the commanding officer, based on the current situation on the ground.
The investigation into the fire Wang Fuk Court had previously heard testimony from an electrician for asset management firm ISS Eastpointwho unknowingly turned off all the fire alarms months before the tragedy and from residents who did not hear the fire alarms fall during the flames.
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Ho, who led firefighters in the first 30 minutes of the blaze, said Monday that firefighters had loud noises they could have used to urge residents to evacuate, but instead they prioritized deploying water jets to fight the blaze.
Lam Ho-chun, deputy commander of the FSD’s Eastern New Territories division, said police officers at the scene were tasked with using their loudspeakers to notify residents of the fire.
Tai Po Fire Station Commander Cheung Lok-hang, who took over as incident commander from Ho on November 26, said on Monday that he deployed firefighters to put out the fire so residents would have a chance to evacuate.
The fire “was spreading very quickly. I wanted to make sure our brothers put the fire out to buy time for the residents to escape,” he said.
Cheung also told the hearing that his fire station did not inspect Wang Fuk Court’s fire systems, although the FSD received notices before the fire that the fire hydrant and hose systems were shut off, saying it was not within their purview.
