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Wang Fuk Court residents’ complaints about flammable foam boards used to protect their buildings under renovation were dismissed by the Fire Services Department, which said the matter was not under its remit.
Foam boards used to seal windows are visible in a Wang Fuk Court building in Tai Po after the deadly fire. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.On the second day of public hearings probing the deadly November fire in a Tai Po housing estate, senior counsel Victor Dawes presented evidence relating to the use of foam boards to cover windows at Wang Fuk Court.
The estate was undergoing a large-scale renovation at the time. The protective boards are understood to be one of the core reasons for the rapid spread of the blaze, which killed 168 people.
Dawes, representing the independent committee probing the fire, said there was evidence suggesting that renovation contractor Prestige Construction and Engineering first proposed during a mid-2024 meeting to use foam boards to prevent damage during maintenance works.
Residents had made complaints to the Fire Services Department after some conducted tests on the boards and found that they were not fire retardant.
In full: Deadly Wang Fuk Court fire ‘most likely’ caused by smoking, public inquiry hears
In response to the complaints, the Assistant Commissioner of Fire Services provided a statement saying: “The issue of fixing polystyrene boards on building windows was not under the purview of the FSD.”
The Chairperson of the Hong Kong Bar Association Victor Dawes meets the press on February 29, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The former chairperson of the owner’s corporation also made a complaint to the FSD in which he said covering windows with foam boards was “very risky.” He told the FSD: “We desperately need your help with on-site inspection and materials testing.”
The department gave a similar response, saying the issue was “beyond the ambit of the FSD,” and advised him to seek help from the Buildings Department and Labour Department.
The Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) told residents that the matter was not regulated under any established legislation as the use of foam boards was not considered part of construction work.
Dawes cited a statement by ICU maintenance surveyor Amanda Lau saying that there were no regulatory requirements for temporary materials, such as foam boards, to be fire retardant.
“It appears that during the works, the foam boards had been bothering different parties and the [government] departments were aware of that. I believe these departments will give an account to the committee in further hearings,” Dawes said.
A child leaves flowers for victims of the Tai Po fire on November 30, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The senior counsel also said evidence suggested that Prestige ordered new foam boards after October last year that were said to be fire retardant and that these were installed, but the old ones that were not fire safe were not removed.
Disabled fire alarm
On Friday, Dawes also said that a fire service pump and the fire alarm system had been shut down while the estate underwent water tank maintenance.
The system had been suspended for over half a year by the time of the fire, he said.
The finding came as questions remained over why the fire alarm did not work as normal during the blaze, delaying residents’ evacuation.
Fire services contractors for the estate, China Status Development and Engineering and Victory Fire Engineering, had not assessed the impact or necessity of shutting down the system, Dawes added.
Judge David Lok, also the chair of the independent committee tasked with probing Hong Kong’s deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, leaves the second public hearing of a public inquiry into the fire on March 20, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.China Status, which submitted extensions for shutting down the system to the FSD, “has to answer whether they have submitted the extensions based on profit without considering the necessity and risk,” Dawes said.
One of the questions the probe should consider is whether China Status took on a supervisory role or whether it was only there to help Victory Fire submit forms to the FSD, he added: “Was the role of the [Registered Fire Service Installation Contractors] just in name only?”
Testimony from the FSD also indicated that officers did not inspect the fire hoses, hydrants, or alarm systems in response to the shutdown notices, he said.
The public hearing began on Thursday and will continue on Tuesday, with government representatives and residents set to testify in the coming sessions.
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