Tai Po fire inquiry: Key findings from first 10 days of Wang Fuk Court hearings

As of Friday, an independent committee investigating the deadly Tai Po fire has held 10 hearing sessions. Those who have testified include Wang Fuk Court residents as well as employees of firms responsible for fire safety and building management at the estate.

The entrance to the City Gallery in Central, the venue of a public inquiry into the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, on March 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The hearings began on March 19, nearly four months after the fire killed 168 people and displaced thousands in late November. The full-day sessions – from 10am to around 4.30pm – will continue on most weekdays in April and are open to the public.

So far, the testimonies have painted a picture of residents’ complaints falling on deaf ears, as well as potential neglect of the firms engaged at Wang Fuk Court.

With the first round of hearings concluding on April 2, and the second round beginning on Wednesday, here are the major takeaways so far.

Cigarette likely cause of fire

At the time of the fire, Wang Fuk Court was undergoing a large-scale renovation project. During the hearings, multiple residents said they had seen workers smoking.

Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, lead lawyer for the committee, said on the first day of the hearing that the likely cause of the initial fire was a lit cigarette on a flat roof of the light well outside flats 104 and 105 of Wang Cheong House.

The finding is based on a preliminary report by the government laboratory and the Fire Investigation Task Force, an interdepartmental team set up by the authorities.

Dawes said the cigarette was believed to have ignited nearby combustible carton boxes. The concrete at the bottom of the light well was severely damaged, and a metal fence was also deformed, showing the severity of the fire there.

He added that “all the evidence” points to this as the start of the fire. During the hearing, he played videos filmed by a passer-by that showed a fire on a lower floor of one of the buildings.

Little action on residents’ complaints about workers smoking

In response to residents’ reports of workers smoking, the Labour Department conducted 16 inspections, but said the complaints were unsubstantiated.

It is also unclear which government department is in charge of enforcing no-smoking rules on construction sites. In response to one complainant, the Labour Department referred the matter to the Fire Services Department (FSD), which replied by email that the issue was not under its purview.

Cheng Tsz-ying, a property officer at Wang Fuk Court’s estate management company ISS EastPoint Properties, confirmed that she had received complaints about workers smoking.

Cheng Tsz-ying, a property officer from ISS EastPoint Properties, attends a public hearing into Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire on March 31, 2026. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP.

She said ISS EastPoint passed the complaints on to the main renovation contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering. While Prestige appeared to have put in place “some measures,” the problem remained, and ISS EastPoint did not follow up.

Cheng said the management company had limited power and was not able to “control Prestige workers.”

Complaints about foam boards brushed off

The hearings also drew attention to the use of flammable foam boards to protect windows during renovation work. It is believed that the boards played a role in exacerbating the spread of the fire and blocked residents’ views, making it more difficult for them to realise the severity of the blaze.

On the second day of the hearings, Dawes said residents filed complaints about the boards with the FSD, but the department responded that the matter was “beyond [its] ambit.”

The blackened exterior of an apartment block in Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po, on November 27, 2025, with what appears to be styrofoam boards attached to the windows. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Meanwhile, the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, which oversees building safety for government housing, said regulations on the use of external wall cladding did not apply to Wang Fuk Court because the foam boards were used on a “temporary basis” – despite having been installed for a full year.

Fire alarms turned off by unqualified electrician

Non-functioning fire alarms at Wang Fuk Court have been attributed to the high death toll at Wang Fuk Court. Multiple residents, as well as a building attendant, told the hearings that the fire alarms did not go off during the blaze.

Electrician Law Kwok-shui, employed by ISS EastPoint, testified that he turned off main switches in all eight of the estate’s buildings because he was told to empty the fire water tanks ahead of maintenance involving tiling their interiors. Prestige gave the order to ISS EastPoint, he said.

Law Kwok-shui, an electrical worker from ISS EastPoint Properties, attends a public hearing into Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire on March 31, 2026. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP.

Law testified that he was aware he did not have the necessary licence to operate fire safety equipment. He said he raised this with Lok Sin-ying, an ISS EastPoint clerk who gave him the task, but Lok told him to just follow the order. Lok later testified that she did not recall Law telling her that.

Law still carried out the order, saying he feared there would be consequences if he did not.

Law said he did not know that turning off the main switches would also deactivate fire alarms, and had he known, he would not have done so.

Both fire safety contractors unaware main switches were off

Prestige had contracted two fire safety firms, Victory Fire Engineering and China Status Development and Engineering Company.

Victory Fire had been conducting annual fire safety inspections at Wang Fuk Court since 2016, while China Status was in charge of fire safety matters related to the estate’s renovation.

Following the annual inspection in March last year, Victory Fire carried out maintenance on fire safety equipment in October and November.

Chung Kit-man (centre), a director and engineer at Victory Fire Engineering, testifies at a public hearing into the massive Tai Po fire on March 31, 2026. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP.

Chung Kit-man, a director and engineer at Victory Fire, said he found out on November 19 – a week before the blaze – that the main switches were off, meaning the fire alarm system was also disabled.

Testifying on March 31, Chung agreed with lawyer Richard Khaw – representing ISS EastPoint- that this was surprising. But when asked if he followed this up, Chung replied: “It didn’t have to do with our work.”

Leung Ping-kay, a director of China Status, testified the following week. He told the committee that, as ordered by Prestige, he had notified the FSD of the shutdown of the fire hydrant and hose reel system to carry out water tank maintenance.

But Leung said he was unaware that the main switches were off and fire alarms were disabled. And despite signing off on notices, neither he nor his colleagues went to the estate to check fire safety equipment.

Wang Fuk Court on fire in late November 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Dawes asked whether Leung agreed that if his company had performed their duty to conduct checks, his colleagues would have turned the switches back on, and “a lot of lives would have been saved.”

After hesitating, Leung agreed that he bore some responsibility.

China Status did not perform due diligence

Leung also told the committee that Prestige asked China Status to submit shutdown notices to the FSD. The notices were intended to inform the department that the fire hydrant and hose reel system would be disabled.

Under FSD rules, fire safety contractors can suspend fire safety systems for repair work and must notify the department if the work is expected to be carried out overnight or continuously for more than 24 hours.

As a result of the prolonged shutdown of the fire hydrant and hose reel system, fire hoses did not work during the fire, exacerbating the difficulty of rescue efforts.

Flowers left on the roadside near Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on December 10, 2025. A deadly blaze broke out on November 26, 2025, and engulfed seven out of eight blocks of the housing estate. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

Since each shutdown could last a maximum of 14 days, China Status submitted 85 notices to renew the shutdowns across all eight blocks of Wang Fuk Court from April to September last year – without ever visiting the estate to inspect the fire safety installations.

Leung confirmed that neither he nor any other company personnel went to Wang Fuk Court to understand the maintenance work or assess the necessity of disabling the fire hydrant and hose reel system.

He said he had been told that the management company would not let them inside the estate, a claim that Dawes called “ridiculous,” as China Status was Wang Fuk Court’s fire safety contractor.

Fire dep’t inspection did not reveal deactivated alarms

The FSD’s assistant director of licensing and certification, Keung Sai-ming, told the hearing on Friday that he did not find it odd that the water tank maintenance had lasted seven months. No questions would be asked as long as the works were ongoing, Keung said.

Keung Sai-ming, assistant director licensing and certification at the Fire Services Department (FSD), leaves the Wang Fuk Court fire hearing in Central on April 10, 2026. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

Dawes cited records showing that the department conducted an inspection at Wang Fuk Court on the night of October 19 – about five weeks before the fire – dispatching a fire truck to check fire hydrants and for obstructions on the estate’s emergency vehicle access path.

The lawyer also cited a firefighter’s testimony saying that they did not enter pump rooms, did not inspect fire alarms or the hose reel system, and found nothing amiss.

Asked if this was a large-scale inspection, Keung said it was “standard procedure.”

Questionable proxy votes prevalent

ISS EastPoint clerk Lok also testified that unauthorised proxy votes were prevalent in voting procedures at meetings, during which homeowners cast ballots on estate-related matters such as renovations.

She said that at times, when she attempted to verify the authenticity of proxy votes, she found that the homeowner whose name appeared on a vote did not give permission for someone to vote on their behalf.

Wang Fuk Court resident Wong Suk-lan (left) and her son attend a public hearing into the deadly Tai Po fire on March 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Asked by Chan Kin-por, a member of the committee, whether the proportion of proxies was typically more than half, Lok said, “Yes, you can put it this way.”

Resident Wong Suk-lan testified that many Wang Fuk Court residents chatted with her while shopping at her market stall, telling her that volunteers for Tai Po South District Councillor Peggy Wong asked flat owners to sign authorisation letters – documents allowing someone else to vote on their behalf.

Peggy Wong is a member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the city’s biggest pro-Beijing party. Between 2021 and 2024, she was a consultant to the management committee of Wang Fuk Court’s owners’ corporation, which approved the controversial renovation project.