included comments below
What Caused Deadly Hong Kong Apartment Fire, Spread 7 Buildings?
00:00 Introduction to Hong Kong Fires
00:48 Where the Apartment Complex Block is located
01:33 Origin of Hong Kong Fire, Video where it started
02:48 Similar to the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017
04:01 How did fire start and spread so quickly
04:24 External Chimney Effect chart
05:36 Fire heat breaks penetrate through windows inside apartments
06:53 How the Chimney stack effect works inside an apartment
07:50 How did the Hong Kong fire start?
08:32 Pets rescued from the Hong Kong Apartment Block Fire
09:07 How did fire skip buildings to ignite other buildings
10:07 Did bamboo scaffolding fuel the Hong Kong Fire
13:08 Building Department Codes on safety nets
14:05 Building codes for Bamboo Scaffolds
What Flammable Materials turned a Hong Kong High-Rise Into a CHIMNEY? Jeff Ostroff analyses the catastrophic fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po, Hong Kong, which has resulted in a devastating loss of life, with over 85 people confirmed dead and dozens injured. This tragedy was not just a fire—it was a rapid, uncontrolled disaster caused by suspected fatal negligence involving the materials used for ongoing renovations.
In this video, we break down the basic facts of the fire, examine the materials that allowed it to spread so quickly, and look into the ongoing investigation.
Key Questions Answered:
How did the fire spread across seven 32-story towers?
What is the "external chimney effect" and how did the construction mesh facilitate it?
Why were highly flammable, non-compliant materials like green netting, bamboo scaffolding, and Styrofoam boards used?
Why was the fire designated a Level 5 Alarm, and what was the scale of the emergency response?
The status of the investigation, which has resulted in the arrest of construction company executives on suspicion of manslaughter.
The Hong Kong authorities are currently probing why the fire-retardant safety standards mandated by the Labour Department and Buildings Department were apparently ignored, turning the exterior of the housing blocks into a massive, combustible wick.
comments
@tong.clement
4 hours ago (edited)
Viewer from Hong Kong here - have been subscribed to your channel since the CTS collapse. Thanks for covering the incident. Totally horrific, and 3 digit fatalities are expected. Never thought something like this can happen in HK with amazing building codes, world class fire services which can reach almost all points across HK in single digit minutes (usually under 6 minutes, 360 seconds )
Things that we have heard so far through social media / news (second hand info):
- fire alarm did not work in all 7 burnt down buildings (? TBC) - rumoured to be turned off to avoid triggering the alarm when workers use the emergency exits to enter through the backside of the building (wtf) If true, unlike Securitas AB in the CTS collapse, this security guard / company must be held liable - this is so much worse
- Green mesh is suspected to not be fire proof - not up to code (you can see the green mesh turning into liquid which should not happen) (some hypothesise it likely would be equally bad even if metallic scaffolding was used? at least burning temp was lower (?) and some people are still being found alive inside 24+ hrs in)
- Apartment windows covered with styrofoam - flammable, and it obstructs your view - you can't see other towers catching fire
- super unlucky with the windward building catching fire first, and humidity was low -> easy for fire to spread
- all 8 towers in renovation at the same time
- poor adherence to safety protocols, workers caught smoking while on the scaffolding before
- debris falling right outside the building entrance -> residents cannot exit and were forced to return to their flat
- windows suspected to be removed from corridors or fire staircases so workers can access the scaffolding?
The fire alarm not working was probably the worst part of it - if it worked it may have saved at least half the lives - not being able to see outside your window + no fire alarm is deadly
This is literally Grenfell tower x8 (actually x20 the number of flats - 1987 flats!) - once all 7 towers were lighted there was little that could be done, except:
- We do not have fire trucks with ladders high enough to reach beyond 55 meters - they really need to fix this - even if it is just a carbon fibre extension pole that can take a water hose up to 100m that would be so useful? (Edit: did some research with AI - it might not be possible, but large heavy-lift tethered drones with 300kg payload might be very useful here to carry a hose up for these exterior fires - they should actually consider buying some just in case)
- From personal experience, fire alarms are relatively quiet in some HK apartments because they only install it outside in the corridor (to save maintenance costs for the owners?) (at least at mine) - they should consider adding fire alarms and smoke detectors in each flat? (mostly not required in most buildings - but probably not a massive problem because you can definitely hear it anyways if it turned on) (But anyways people did say they tried to press the fire alarm button but it didn't work - to be verified)
- is a sprinkling system possible with simple garden hoses at the roof top going around the perimeter once? Would be worth considering?
Living in a UK university dorm now we get automatic fire alarms + smoke detectors in every single room, and fire alarm tests every week
So sad that this happened. Unfortunately a relative of mine passed away. Praying for some miracles for others.
Bamboo was probably not to blame - not an expert but metallic scaffolding would lead to an even higher burning temp? The government has been trying to shift away from bamboo scaffolding recently. Perfectly reasonable if it is safer, but it would be sad to see the end of a traditional work of art
Disclaimer: all info are second hand, and opinions are of my own and preliminary. I am no firefighting expert. Please try to verify the details above further
Edit: Did not mean to spark a debate about politics here, or a debate about bamboo vs metallic scaffolding
A Concerning New Data Point