Hong Kong fire’s ‘heat, flames main challenges for rescuers, not ladder limits’

Excessive heat and raging flames that engulfed a Tai Po estate in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest fires posed the biggest challenges for firefighters, experts have said, as they dismissed suggestions that height limitations of aerial ladders had added to the blaze’s severity.

They were responding to widespread online speculation that the severity of the highest No 5 fire alarm blaze stemmed from limitations in the Fire Services Department’s ladder apparatus and a reluctance to ask for help from mainland China, which had equipment that could reach higher floors.

At least 83 people, including a firefighter, were killed after the ferocious blaze ravaged seven of the eight 31-storey blocks of Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Wednesday. The fire had yet to be completely put out by Thursday evening.

“The length of the fire ladder was not the determining factor,” William Ip, safety supervisor of OHMS Limited, said.

The fire service installation contractor said water jets projected from aerial ladder platforms in Hong Kong could typically reach an effective extinguishing height of up to about 30 storeys.

But he said the water could only help cool the temperature and would not extinguish the fire entirely.