Forum List | Off Topic
| Topic: The Hong Kong Fire |
|---|
| 1. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Sat 29th Nov 2025. 15:03 Many of you will have see the news reports of the apartment fire in Tai Po here in Hong Kong, which is the largest in a number of years. Honestly, just absolutely horrendous stuff and now a death toll of 120+ I`m basically curious about what information has been broadcasted over there? A lot of what I have seen seems to be focussing on the bamboo scaffolding. Bamboo is actually a water dense material and, usually, the strands used for construction are chemically treated to reduce potential flammability even further. it has also been reported that the green netting was not properly treated with a fire retardant and also that some windows had been covered with styrofoam blocks which aided the rapid spread of the fire. There has been a campaign in HK to try and reduce building costs recently, as they are apparently the highest in Asia. This has resulted in a number of construction companies using cheaper and lower quality materials from Mainland China instead of importing from elsewhere (there was actually quite a big scandal recently about the MTR using cheaper Chinese tiles instead of the German ones stipulated in the contract and folks in the company embezzling the funds). This really is becoming a bit of a theme with highly propagandised bridges and other things in the Mainland collapsing because there have been corners cut. Funnily enough, there have also been recent attempts to outlaw the bamboo scaffolding, but it was found that these have been driven by members of the HK legislature that have connections to mainland companies that produce steel...funny that! Other developments I learned of tonight from a local friend that lives in Tai Po: There have been Mainland Chinese scammers giving out forms to elderly and other victims asking for Card Numbers, Pin codes etc. This was discovered when one of the elderly victims approached a real volunteer with the form and it was circulated on Instagram and Threads. On the night this happened, there were Mainlanders posing and making Daoyin (Tik Tok) posts with the Fire Engines and then posting on Red Note that there are "freebies" available in Tai Po, with a number of folk turning up and pretending to be victims to get said freebies. There were also four Mainlanders arrested for hunting down stray dogs and cats - that had obviously escaped the fire and fled - and then barbequing them. (It`s actually quite common to eat Cat and Dog meat in the mainland) Now the HK Police are claiming that there are protesters among the volunteers up in Tai Po "attempting to sew disunity and divide Hong Kong". Honestly, incredible how low some people can sink? Really sad for all those involved, but you can almost guarantee that there`ll be various attempts to sweep the real causes of this under the rug. Reply |
| 2. Author: ipswichpar Date: Sat 29th Nov 2025. 15:37 Main things I`ve taken away from the reporting..... Bamboo Netting How challenging it was for the rescue teams How challenging it was due to the size of the buildings Fire alarms didnt work The speed of the burn Many people are now displaced with nowhere to go A handfull of people have been arrested for fraud and manslaughter (I assume for cutting corners on build quality) Reply |
| 3. Author: jake89 Date: Sat 29th Nov 2025. 16:21 I`ve seen the bamboo and netting mentioned but not suggested as being the cause. It sounds like the issue has been non-working fire alarms and covering the building in styrofoam during renovations. Reply |
| 4. Author: Bletchley_Par Date: Sat 29th Nov 2025. 18:30 This really is becoming a bit of a theme with highly propagandised bridges and other things in the Mainland collapsing because there have been corners cut. I`ve certainly not seen this, the idea promoted is that China can build things faster, better an cheaper than anyone else. Disaster carpetbaggers have always been around.  Reply |
| 5. Author: twin par Date: Sat 29th Nov 2025. 19:30 It was literally,a giant bonfire,so many things wrong. Have to say,I think building regulations in this country,are first class.Had a friend who lived in Australia,and he worked on a ship yard,and said health and safety is 20 years behind us. Post Edited (Sat 29 Nov 19:35) Reply |
| 6. Author: OzPar Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 04:53 Reporting on the Hong Kong blaze has been pretty extensive here in Australia. We have a large Chinese population. Our two government-funded channels, ABC and SBS, have each dedicated several minutes to the incident. The latest report I saw suggested that initial findings point to a failure in local enforcement and compliance. The key issue identified was that the green nylon safety netting on the scaffolding was not fire-retardant, in violation of HK`s regulations. I think it said three people had already been arrested. Hong Kong operates under the "one country, two systems" principle. In other words, it has a high degree of autonomy. Beijing is responsible for foreign affairs, defence, national security, and the interpretation of the basic law. Outside of that, HK looks after other matters, including building regulations. I got a little bit suspicious reading HJ`s remarks about "mainland Chinese scammers" and four "mainlanders" arrested for hunting down cats and dogs for a BBQ. These are the sort of stories I used to hear over lunch among the expat gweilo chattering classes at the Football Club and the Jockey Club at Happy Valley. Empty of substance, but packed full of racism. But to check, I flicked an email to my former work colleague, who still runs our office in Wanchai on Hong Kong Island. "Stuff and nonsense" was his swift reply. Reply |
| 7. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 05:47 China can indeed build things fast, but the question is always over quality which is often very poor. In terms of the bridge collapse, we can use Oz`s favourite source: https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c231yry75m3o Always fun to see Oz`s attempts at defending Autocratic regimes and Theocrats though though, which is becoming somewhat of a recurring theme. In terms of the mainland Chinese fraud in relation to the Tai Po fire going on: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/hong-kong-news/article/317982/police-warn-of-fundraising-fraud-linked-to-tai-po-fire Again Oz, for someone who is advanced in years, you really need to drop the ego of "experience" and be more objective. As with your willfull ignorance of the Jihadi ways of Hamas, you simple don`t want to acknowledge the truths that don`t fit your own tankie narrative. I`ve got a good pal who is from Tai Po and lives about 300m away from the fire, who I will happily have email you about the goings on up there, which she has witnessed first hand - How good is your Cantonese and Putonghua again? Post Edited (Sun 30 Nov 05:48) Reply |
| 8. Author: OzPar Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 06:28 HJ—nowhere in that story from The HK Standard does it state or even suggest that the scammers come from the mainland. As for your BBC story, this bridge collapse was caused by a landslide. Natural disaster. Authorities closed the bridge before this happened, and no one was injured. If you want to compare and contrast bridges, look at the bridge in Baltimore that collapsed early last year after a ship hit it. They have started its replacement, and it will be finished in 2030. Meanwhile, China will have built countless bridges, new roads, ports, and probably another 50,000 kilometres of high-speed railway track. Those damn Commies sure know how to spend money on improving people`s lives, rather than wasting it on weapons to kill folk in far-off countries. Do you have any idea how childish and petty you sound, HJ? You really need to stop your deflections, drop your ageist and "tankie" nonsense, and come to understand the true meaning of being "objective". Reply |
| 9. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 07:12 Oz, there have been countless bridge collapses, sinkholes, building collapses in China because of Tofu construction. Chinese media, which you seem to hold in high regard, consistently fails to report these and the videos are often leaked on Chinese Social media and then enter the Western sphere. The recent collapse was due to construction being inadequate on the basis of poor geological surveys. The well-fabled HK-Macau-Zhuhai bridge is heavily restricted in terms of traffic volume because the construction quality is garbage. You talked about the high speed railway: the company that runs that is the most indebted organisation in human history, to the tune of 850Bn USD. And what happened with the crashes on the network? Oh aye, they simply dug a hole and buried the train and prevented folk from having proper funerals for their relatives. Same thing happens with the press releases in the floods in Hubei and Hunan where there are literally cars floating about and tunnels completely flooded because they haven`t designed the drainage systems properly. China was apparently not the origin of Covid, yet in Putonghua they say 武漢肺炎 (Wǔhàn fèiyán), which literally translates as "Wuhan pneumonia". Again, I`m happy to get my pal in Tai Po to email you but I see that was something that you conveniently ignored. In her words, they were Mandarin/Putonghua speakers. What is the language of Hong Kong and Macau again? Can a media source exist in HK if it criticises the Beijing Government? Or if it questions the actions of officials in HK or the Legislature, including visa and immigration policy? In short: naw! Surely that should be a well-kenned fact to you as someone who has reportedly had an illustrious career in the media? As for your colleague giving you an immediate email response on a Sunday...aye, sure! Its amazing the lengths you`ll go to just to avoid admitting that you`re wrong. The simple fact is that you are getting drawn in by the propaganda and taking things are face value, which in this part of the world allows the CCP to hide behind the language barrier. Again, you can look at the difference simply in presentation of the English language websites by Chinese media and governmental organisations and then compare them to the Chinese language ones and they`ll tell a very different story. And this is just one example. Honestly, just stop spreading propaganda... Reply |
| 10. Author: OzPar Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 08:08 haha! Have you heard of that thing called a personal e-mail? Probably not. It’s an oldie thing… Reply |
| 11. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 08:28 Deflection at its finest Oz. Just curious: How much are you being paid to be a Z and a WuMao? Reply |
| 12. Author: OzPar Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 09:14 I haven`t a clue what you are talking about. Reply |
| 13. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Sun 30th Nov 2025. 13:02 Really not surprised because that`s the case with pretty much everything you post RE China. For the record: a WuMao is a CCP schill who parrots their chosen talking points over Western social media. They`re also known as the "Fifty Cent Army" and you`ll find them being "Wolf Warriors" on pretty much every Western News Outlets` posts that have anything to do with China, which is funny considering that these platforms are banned in Mainland China and access to VPN usually comes with the approval of the local CCP branch and the wider apparatus. They`ve been going into overdrive recently with the new Japanese PMs comments on Taiwan, which has incidentally resulted in her having a 75% domestic approval rating. And now the South Koreans are protesting about the influx on Mainland Chinese tourists that took the huff at Japan and went there instead! Back to the OP though: oddly enough as well, the guy who started a Change.org petition calling for "an Independent investigation into the tower fire" has been arrested for "sewing division in society". Honestly laughable that there are Western folk out there willing to defend that lot and Putin`s Z brigade... Reply |
| 14. Author: Playup_Pompey Date: Mon 1st Dec 2025. 12:10 one thing ive seen mentioned in coverage here not discussed above is the poor water pressure so when emergency services did attend the water pressure was so bad that couldnt reach above the lower levels of the buildings  Reply |
| 15. Author: hurricane_jimmy Date: Mon 1st Dec 2025. 19:58 I did actually see that one mentioned PP, I think through DW or Channel 4 and the guy they had on from Hong Kong Uni of Science & Tech was saying that apparently the technology doesn`t exist in the world for fire hoses to reach beyond about 30 stories in height. I don`t know the technology enough to say definitively whether that is true or false, but it would seem that this would be another angle with which to challenge or question the preparedness of the local authorities and so it will undoubtedly be swept under the carpet by the local administration. This is particularly bad when you consider the number of similar structures around the Hong Kong SAR territory, but you can guarantee you`ll never get a fully objective investigation into this. Reply |
| 16. Author: NMCmassive Date: Mon 1st Dec 2025. 21:35 I’ve not seen anything about the fire which sounds horrendous. I have watched videos before about the Chinese construction industry-especially after the collapse of the contractor evergreen/evergrand - something like that. Basically there’s 2 ways they build in China. Funnily enough anyone connected to the CCP or anyone that holds enough power, will have their works built to a similar standard to our own. They might run 24hr shifts etc but material selection and finish would be equivalent to UK/EU/North America. (Not that it’s perfect here but at least in the west there is a culture of continuous improvement-even if it’s not always obvious) Then there’s the rest. Wild West. These works would have fallen into the second category. Yeah we have issues in our construction industry but they pale in comparison to china’s cowboy cutting corner brigade. Looks like OP is in Hong Kong? I don’t know if he knows anymore about it?? COYP Reply |
| 17. Author: LochgellyAlbert Date: Mon 1st Dec 2025. 22:46 hurricane_jimmy, Mon 1 Dec 19:58 Hence the reason high rise apartments have dry/wet risers with outlets on all floors, unfortunately in the case of this fire they would be as good as a chocolate fireguard!🤔🚒🥲 The water tank trick as in "Towering Inferno" might have worked, where's Steve McQueen and Paul Newman when they need them?💥💥💥🙉🙈 Post Edited (Mon 01 Dec 23:00) Reply |
Your Message:
By using your account you have implicitly accepted the DAFC.net Forum Rules and agree to be bound by them. You also agree that you will take sole responsibility for your post and indemnify dafc.net on all matters and costs. Refrain from making any potentially libelous comments about anyone
- - -