More Wang Fuk Court residents were set to testify in the fourth public hearing by the independent committee probing the tragic fire in Tai Po on Thursday, with a witness noting that cigarette smells were detected in her flat during the major maintenance work on the estate.
The first witness to testify, Elsie Ng Oi-see, a resident of Wang Cheong House, said that scaffolding had been erected on the exterior walls of each floor to provide workers access during the maintenance project. Piles of rubbish were seen accumulating on the scaffolding and she heard noises she believed were concrete fragments and construction materials falling.
She added that although she did not see workers smoking during daytime work, she could smell cigarettes coming inside her flat through the windows and front door.
She said that the smoke stop doors in Wang Cheong House were unlocked and could be opened freely, while the fire door outside the ground-floor lobby once failed to open.
Wong Ka-yuen, the first Wang Fuk Court resident to report the blaze to police, told the hearing she was at home when she heard workers shout about a fire at around 2.50pm. She smelt smoke after opening her window, immediately shut it and escaped.
She said she waited a long time for the call to go through on the police emergency line. “I never expected 999 would be that busy,” she noted.
Wong then went down the back staircase to the building lobby. On one floor, she saw the view outside turn red. She reached the park at 2.55pm and called her family before going to her relatives’ residence at Kwong Fuk Estate.
From Kwong Yau House in Kwong Fuk Estate, she saw that the blaze had already reached the top floor of Wang Cheong House. Although firefighters began battling the blaze, water jets were only able to reach the first floor and failed to reach the second floor. The fire eventually spread to the other buildings.
The hearing today will summon 11 witnesses, including nine Wang Fuk Court residents. The other two are exterior wall cleaners, one of whom works for Hoi Tak Construction Engineering Limited, which was responsible for external wall re-decoration works at Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House and Wang Cheong House. The firm had ordered non-fire-retardant foam boards from a supplier in 2024.
