Supplier says subcontractor ordered non-fire-retardant nets before Tai Po blaze
Documents released by independent panel investigating the deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze detail Gain Profit’s orders for non-compliant nets
The statement from supplier Lam Kee Construction Materials was among the documents released on Wednesday by the independent committee investigating the causes of the fire in November, the city’s deadliest in decades.
The committee’s counsel and expert witnesses previously identified the use of non-compliant scaffolding mesh as a key factor behind the fire’s rapid spread. The blaze killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents.
If fire-retardant materials had been used, the blaze might have self-extinguished at an early stage, according to the experts.
Instead, the flames spread quickly along the substandard mesh, producing burning droplets that ignited other sections of scaffolding and triggered secondary fires.
According to Lam Kee’s submission to the committee, it had received orders for protective nets from Gain Profit Shed Industry, the subcontractor responsible for erecting the scaffolding at Wang Fuk Court, but was unsure whether they had been used there.