Amid heightened public sensitivity following the deadly blaze at Wang Fuk Court, a video circulating online has sparked fresh outrage after showing a man burning joss paper in a building’s stairwell, creating large flames and thick smoke despite repeated warnings from bystanders.
The clip, shared on Threads during the weekend, shows the man standing in the ninth-floor stairwell of a residential block, burning offerings in a metal container. Flames shoot up to head height, with a smoke-stop door left partially open. A building security guard and a woman filming the incident can be heard intervening.
The original poster criticized the man as “beyond help” and accused him of creating hazards “in such a sensitive period,” referring to the Wang Fuk Court disaster that killed 159 residents. The poster later clarified the video had been forwarded within a group chat and that they were not present at the scene.
"I’ll just burn today and stop": Man ignores warnings
In the video, a woman can be heard scolding the man: “You can’t do this… if you keep doing it, I really will call the police.” She adds that he had earlier walked away while the fire was still burning.
The man points at the flames and replies, “I’m watching it burn.”
The woman retorts, “Even if you're watching, you still can’t do this.”
Trying to appease her, the man waves his hand and says, “I’ll just burn today and stop.”
When the security guard offers to extinguish the fire—“Let me put it out for you”—the man’s tone turns hostile. “Don’t put it out,” he shouts.
The woman then rebukes him again for yelling at the guard: “You can’t talk to the security like that just because you raise your voice.”
Despite the confrontation, the man continues tending the burning paper, stirring the ashes with a metal rod as smoke fills the stairwell. “I have the whole video,” the woman warns. “I really will call the police if you keep doing this—after such a big lesson, you still don’t listen!”
The guard responds helplessly, saying he will wait until the fire dies down before leaving.
Online reactions: "It’s basically arson"
The footage has ignited intense discussion online, with many commenters expressing alarm at the open flames inside a closed stairwell—an environment where smoke and fire can spread rapidly.
Some pointed out the smoke-stop door was left open, saying, “They opened the fire door just to let the smoke into people’s homes.”
Others shared their own experiences with similar behavior in older buildings, especially during festivals: “The whole corridor reeks of burning paper.” One user wrote that their neighbor “burns offerings in the stairwell and even yells at me when I complain. Management can’t do anything, and they keep the fire door open all year.”
Several netizens said their buildings had previously triggered full fire alarms due to burning paper in stairwells. “Someone burned cardboard in my building’s back stairs once, and the whole block evacuated.”
Some commenters called the behavior “arson,” urging anyone witnessing such acts to call the police immediately. One user described the only effective solution: “We had the same problem. Warnings didn’t work. Eventually, someone had to call the police.”
