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Posted

Damn that is a big fire. 

HONG KONG (AP) — A fire spread across seven high-rise apartment buildings in a Hong Kong housing complex, killing 13 people and leaving others still trapped, in the city’s worst blaze in years.

Nine people were declared dead at the scene and four others who were sent to the hospital were later confirmed dead, authorities told reporters. At least 15 others were injured, and about 700 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters.

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread quickly on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the housing complex in Tai Po district, in the New Territories. Records show the housing complex consisted of eight buildings with almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people.

AP Live. 

https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-highrise-fire-tai-po-cf40065101b2b6f8ac7bc43d9f228022

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Well, I'm sure Hong Kong has the most up-to-date and safety-oriented building codes, so this could have been much worse.

Spoiler

Surfside_condominium_collapse_photo_from

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Bamboo scaffolding seems .. unwise. 

Only ever had a one-night layover in HK but that shit is everywhere in Thailand too.  I wouldn't want to have to trust it.

Posted
14 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

44. 279 missing per BBC update.

What do you think is the potential for this to spread into civil unrest?

Posted
1 hour ago, KYHorn said:

What do you think is the potential for this to spread into civil unrest?

There will be inquiries, some will get punished, etc, but nothing major. Three execs from the maintenance company already under arrest and finger pointing has begun. 

Scaffolding caught fire, the netting was not fire retardant, and there was Styrofoam being used to install new windows. 

Death toll over 65, almost 300 still missing. This according to the BBC. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c2emg1kj1klt

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Posted

As much polluting as they do, they can't produce metal scaffolding?  What's a few more emissions if it means residential towers won't burn? 

Reads like they expect some sort of fire rating on bamboo,  which im sure it does when its just cut, they could soak it in fire retardant,  but by the time you get into that and all the other safety issues,  wouldn't you rather burn some coal and spit out some metal? 

Looks like they arrested the cleaning staff at the construction co. Headquarters. Problem solved,  everyone go home. 

Posted
9 hours ago, Dewey said:

As much polluting as they do, they can't produce metal scaffolding?  What's a few more emissions if it means residential towers won't burn? 

Reads like they expect some sort of fire rating on bamboo,  which im sure it does when its just cut, they could soak it in fire retardant,  but by the time you get into that and all the other safety issues,  wouldn't you rather burn some coal and spit out some metal? 

Looks like they arrested the cleaning staff at the construction co. Headquarters. Problem solved,  everyone go home. 

They don't care about pollution, or worker safety, or really much else except the cheapest possible option.

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Posted
Hong Kong  — 

The number of people killed in the devastating Hong Kong apartment complex fire has risen to 128 with as many as 200 missing, officials said Friday, as authorities announced eight more arrests over the blaze.

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Posted

It gets worse. WTF? There will be some public executions. It is China. 

Fire alarms in all eight buildings of the complex were “not functional,” officials found during inspections carried out after the blaze, according to Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung. It was not clear if the alarm system was operational on the day of the fire, though residents previously told CNN their building alarm did not ring.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/asia/hong-kong-fire-toll-intl-hnk

Posted

I wonder if this is somehow related to Hong Kong's upcoming elections. It was just a few years ago they banned and arrested all pro-democracy candidates and made it so only those aligned with Beijing could run for office.

Posted

I’m not a student on geopolitical happenings, but I am on fire behavior, building construction, and all things previous history with regards to significant conflagrations. This is quite par for the course in just about everywhere outside of the US, Canada, and to a lesser degree England. I wouldn’t put much into an idea that this was anything other than multiple entities cutting corners and having finally catch up to them.

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Posted

HONG KONG (AP) — The death toll in Hong Kong’s apartment complex blaze rose to 146 on Sunday as investigators discovered more bodies in the burned-out buildings. A steady stream of people placed bouquets of flowers at an ever-growing makeshift memorial at the scene of the disaster, among the worst in the city’s history.

https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-apartment-complex-fire-9b466e2965d71cc21fe3bce5ad863f74

Posted

A 1-year-old was among 159 killed in Hong Kong apartment fires. 30 others remain missing

https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-tai-po-fire-highrise-a82446d3ade61c71c1915f29d89cb35c

HONG KONG (AP) — The death toll of Hong Kong’s high-rise apartment blaze rose to 159 on Wednesday, as authorities arrested six people on suspicion of deactivating some fire alarms during maintenance work at the housing complex.

In addition to the scaffolding issue, residents and officials have said that some fire alarms in the buildings failed to sound when the fire broke out, though it was not clear how widespread that problem was within the complex.

Police said Wednesday that six people who allegedly deactivated some fire alarms at the housing complex during the renovation works were arrested on suspicion of making false representation to the fire services department.

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Posted
On 11/30/2025 at 5:09 PM, Herbie Hancock said:

I’m not a student on geopolitical happenings, but I am on fire behavior, building construction, and all things previous history with regards to significant conflagrations. This is quite par for the course in just about everywhere outside of the US, Canada, and to a lesser degree England. I wouldn’t put much into an idea that this was anything other than multiple entities cutting corners and having finally catch up to them.

Americans don’t realize just how cheap life is elsewhere 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, bullzak said:

Americans don’t realize just how cheap life is elsewhere 

We don't have to look far to see the Aggie CEO of Blue Bell knowingly selling listeria tainted ice cream to hospitals.

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Posted
33 minutes ago, bullzak said:

Americans don’t realize just how cheap life is elsewhere 

100%.  Specifically in China and India.  I was in Hong Kong about 12 years ago, and was in a very nice hotel on the 87th floor, I had a great view of the city.  Right across from me were workers building an even taller high rise, and they had bamboo scaffolding going all the way to the top.  I asked some of the team I was consulting with: "that looks dangerous, is that stable, do the lashings break and have people ever fallen?" and their response was shocking to me.  They said: "Oh yeah, all the time.  Every week a couple of the workers fall to their deaths, but it's no big deal.  We just get a few more (Chinese) mainlanders, they're lined up to come to Hong Kong."

When I consulted in India, I was in an all-day meeting in a conference room.  They had a guy dedicated to holding the door to the meeting room open.  That was his job.  All day, the whole day, holding the door open, to a meeting room mind you not like the doorman at the front of the building or anything.  I asked about it later and the manager joked it was cheaper than buying a doorstop.

I think about these experiences often and how thankful I am to be born and live in the U.S.  We bitch and moan about stuff here but we have it so, so, so much better than 99.99999% of the world.  They'd feel rich on 2% of our income.

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Posted (edited)

When we lived in the Taipei, Taiwan metro area during the late 1950s, several times we saw dead bodies under grass mats on the side of the road….obviously someone run over by a vehicle. 
Dad’s liaison officer explained matter-of-factly that the body would lay there until the family came to claim it.

 

Edited by Armybrat
Posted
3 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

asked about it later and the manager joked it was cheaper than buying a doorstop.

Shark Tank Writing GIF

Posted
4 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

When I consulted in India, I was in an all-day meeting in a conference room.  They had a guy dedicated to holding the door to the meeting room open.  That was his job.  All day, the whole day, holding the door open, to a meeting room mind you not like the doorman at the front of the building or anything.  I asked about it later and the manager joked it was cheaper than buying a doorstop.

Yep.  "underemployment" is the term.  When I was in India years back I had an entire entourage.  I had like 6-7 people.  Carrying bags.  Holding doors.  Unpacking clothes.  Checking you in to your room in the actual room.  The hotels were as opulent as I've ever stayed in.  Get a few hundred yards from the hotel, and there's a dude with no legs begging for scraps.  

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