April Zhang

Opinion | Tougher fire safety laws in Hong Kong won’t work without fixing social problems

The deadly blaze at New Lucky House that killed five people and injured 43 shows that fire safety laws will not save residents unless they are enforced

While amending the Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance is a good start, Hong Kong must also address residents’ economic woes and tensions among stakeholders

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Residents congregate after a fire broke out at New Lucky House in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei neighbourhood on April 10. Photo: Jelly Tse

April Zhang

Published: 5:30am, 23 Apr 2024Updated: 5:59am, 23 Apr 2024

The deadly blaze at New Lucky House in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei district on April 10, in which five people died and 43 were injured, teaches us a hard lesson that fire safety laws are useless if not enforced.

The current Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance mandates that buildings, including mixed-use and residential blocks built before 1987, be upgraded in line with modern safety standards.

New Lucky House belongs to this category. It was built in 1964 and had 35 registered guest houses, 100 subdivided flats and many commercial premises. Fire safety orders were issued to the owners’ corporation in 2008, requiring them to upgrade protection measures. But they had not complied.

This is not a single incident. More than 9,500 buildings have not complied with fire safety orders. As of last June, the overall compliance rate was only 36.9 per cent.

This tragedy, coupled with the low compliance rate, has sparked calls to expedite an amendment to the ordinance. Submitted last year, the amendment gives the authorities power to carry out fire safety improvement work on buildings when owners fail to comply, and recover the costs from them with a surcharge.

While the amendment is intended to save lives and likely be passed in due course, it is only on paper and not enough to increase the compliance rate. Moreover, the amendment does not change the complex make-up of buildings such as New Lucky House. At the time of the fire, there were 300 residents of New Lucky House. By combing through various reports, we can get a rough idea of their demographics.