Wang Fuk Court Apartment Fires in Hong Kong
06 February 2026
By Paul Haneke
I remember getting a coffee on campus, when my roommate texted me: “you heard about the fire?”. Up to that point, I had not. Naively, I started scanning the available horizons in front of me and - to my bewilderment - I could really see the pitch-black cloud that was steadily creeping upwards, surely not more than a few kilometers away. About ten minutes later, I could smell it.
During the afternoon of November 26th, 2025, a high-rise apartment complex under renovation in Hong Kong’s Tai Po District, a small, lively town north-east of the main city, caught fire. It spread onto six out of the seven nearly identical neighboring houses and had firefighters battling for almost two entire days in order to extinguish the fire in its entirety. Tragically, one hundred and sixty-eight people lost their lives during and shortly after the incident.
The following days were eerily somber. All university events and classes were canceled; public transport was turned on its head. Tai Po, namely Wang Fuk Court, where the apartment complexes were located, can be reached from EduHK campus, where I was living last semester, by bus in no more than fifteen minutes. It was immediately noticeable that many people on campus knew someone affected by the fires; some may even have been affected themselves. The Education University of Hong Kong even established a temporary support center to specifically cater to the emotional and psychological needs of people who were affected by the catastrophe in any way. After almost two entire days, the combined efforts of more than one thousand firefighters were finally able to best the flames. One of them gave their life doing so.
As the initial shock slowly ebbed away, it cautiously gave way to the question quietly lingering on everyone’s mind: what caused the fire? To my surprise, no one really knew. Not with any amount of evidence at least. But, of course, there were more than enough rumors and possibilities of what could have caused it that started making the rounds. First it was supposedly the bamboo scaffolding (the buildings were being renovated), which makes up about 80% of scaffolding used in Hong Kong, then, a bit later, it must have been the safety nets covering the scaffolding, and then suddenly there was talk of workers illegally smoking during the renovation works. Then there was talk of corruption. As post-fire examinations revealed, quite a few of the buildings’ materials were found to be below safety standards, especially in concern to fire hazards. In January, Hong Kong police forces arrested close to thirty people on counts of corruption and manslaughter, promising to hold everyone at fault responsible. The public hearings on these matters will begin in March 2026.
Whatever the cause, the Wang Fuk Court fires constitute an unprecedented tragedy. There remains little but to wish those affected the strength to push through this misfortune and to work through this traumatizing memory.
sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2w9wqek3jo
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxe9r7wjgro