WTC fire alarm failed on some floors 'after system burned'

Fire alarms did not sound in parts of the World Trade Centre during Wednesday's blaze because electric wires of the alarm system were burned, the property management company said.

Ka Shing Management Services overseeing the 39-story mall-office complex in Causeway Bay yesterday apologized to 13 people injured and thousands of tenants and customers affected in the four-hour fire that broke out at lunchtime.

It vowed to review fire systems and contingency plans for at all properties under its management.

The company's managing director, Chan Kam-fai, said he has submitted surveillance camera footage to authorities and will continue to fully comply with an investigation. But he said he wanted to clarify accusations regarding the mall's fire equipment after those escaping from the blaze said they could not hear fire alarms and were unable to open the doors at fire exits.

He said fire alarms activated when the blaze started but soon went off because "the fire at our meters room damaged the wires of the alarm system and so the fire alarms on the sixth to 13th floors went dead."

He said the fire-detecting sprinklers operated normally, but were not triggered because there were no heat from the sixth floor to the upper floors.

Chan said after inspection by the Fire Services Department, and another inspection by themselves, they can confirm that the fire exits were "operating normally."

The blaze injured 13 people, including a 60-year-old woman whose condition improved from critical to stable yesterday. She was among four that are still hospitalized.

Nine others have been discharged, according to the Hospital Authority.

Workers also returned to the building after it was unsealed in the morning. Security personnel were deployed to man the entrances and only allow workers and staff to enter the complex.

But many restaurants on the lower floors - in particular those on the first and second floor near the meters room - remained closed.

Repairmen checked the escalators while most of the office employees on the upper floors returned to work despite having no internet connection.

A woman, surnamed Chun, who works on the 32nd floor, said she was in the office during the fire, which started at around 12.30pm, and she did not hear the fire alarm until 1pm.

She then sought refuge on the rooftop and left the building after the situation was under control.

She said water and power supplies were normal at her office yesterday, but internet services were down and workers were still repairing them.

A woman working at a medical center on the higher floors said the blaze had triggered a power outage and medications stored in refrigerators would have to be thrown away.

"Our colleagues were actually quite calm during the fire, as we are quite far from the fire, and we have done fire drills annually," she said.

Another office lady, surnamed Tsang, said she did not hear any fire alarm on Wednesday.

"If those fire alarm systems were turned off due to renovation works, the management office should have notified tenants and customers," Tsang said.

Jerry Nip Yuen-fung, chairman of the Fire Services Department Staffs General Association, said the complex is a confined structure and when smoke billowed within it, people found it difficult to identify the location of safety exits.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com