Rules must be enforced to prevent more building fires

Alice Wu says the latest deadly blaze at New Lucky House in Yau Ma Tei broke out after property owners were allowed to ignore safety orders for 16 years

It has only been three years since the deadly Yau Ma Tei tenement fire, which broke out in a restaurant celebrating Diwali and a birthday, killing seven and injuring more. Then-chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor vowed that the Fire Services Department and Buildings Department would inspect 2,500 buildings aged 60 years and older within the year for fire safety.

Sadly, it takes the loss of lives and homes to catalyse change.

The 1953 fire that swept through a Shek Kip Mei squatter camp on Christmas Day claimed two lives and left 53,000 survivors homeless.

It forced the colonial government to resolve, once and for all, the housing needs of the influx of immigrants, forced to live in makeshift homes with no fire or flood protection. Hong Kong’s public housing programme was born.

The 1996 Garley Building fire that claimed 41 lives and injured 81 brought about tougher building regulations.

It’s 2024, and while there is no way to eradicate fires – we had at least two last week – we are still struggling with the same old problems: regulations have been upgraded and inspections carried out but older buildings are either not up to standard in terms of fire protection measures and/or still have obstructed escape ways.

The fire at the 60-year-old New Lucky House in Yau Ma Tei on April 10, which killed five and injured 43 people, has put a spotlight on what the government has yet to do to tackle these building safety issues. And it’s safe to say it will take more than more legislation, tougher regulations or inspections.

The 16-storey building had 35 registered guest houses, 100 subdivided flats and other commercial premises. The dangers of subdivided flats are known – and the government has been put on notice since 2021 by Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, to eradicate them together with “cage homes”.

This will take years so it is imperative in the meantime to ensure that these densely populated old buildings, which house more than they are meant to, at least have fire doors, among other safety measures.

The Buildings Department issued fire safety orders to the owners’ corporation of New Lucky House in 2008. Although the department followed up and sent advisory letters, the orders have not been complied with, 16 years later.

The Fire Services Department last inspected the building on February 9 and found no fire hazard. But it must be noted that five prosecutions were filed against Lucky House owners in the past decade. They include charges of obstructing escape routes and failing to maintain firefighting equipment and complete annual gear inspections.

Out of the 347,715 orders issued after inspections of 10,761 buildings, only 36.9 per cent had been tackled by June last year. With no real power, warnings and orders will not make buildings safer.

In December last year, the government proposed amending the Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance to empower the relevant departments to make fire safety improvements to buildings that failed to comply with orders, and to charge owners for the work done. We should see little resistance from our lawmakers to get this through once the laws are drafted.

We can impose tougher regulations and punishment but unless there is real enforcement, building owners will not take the safety orders seriously. Of course, the problems faced by old buildings, from the lack of owners’ corporations to uncooperative owners, complicate compliance. But that is no excuse for continuing to risk lives.

And it’s not just the older buildings that the authorities must fix. Owners of ultra-luxury homes, like those in Redhill Peninsula, have erected illegal structures that are public safety hazards. Fresh in our minds is the landslide caused not necessarily by record rainfall but by unauthorised building works. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to conduct inspections after unauthorised basements and swimming pools were unearthed.

This National Security Education Day, may the government take the opportunity to make clear its commitment to upholding the law indiscriminately, and to emphasise that all residents must abide by the law. The clampdown on illegally parked vehicles has sent a strong message, for example.

But whether it’s letting the ultra-wealthy do as they like with their homes regardless of the dangers posed or allowing owners of old buildings to delay compliance with safety orders, it’s the same mockery of the law, of regulation and enforcement. Surely, safety risks are part of social security under the country’s holistic approach to national security.

It’s time to get to work.