TG Tai Po Inferno special
Tripperhead Gazette
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At 2.51pm, Wednesday November 26th, 2025 the first report of a fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po was called in. By 5pm the inferno had engulfed all seven towers and was upgraded to a 5-alarm fire, the highest level possible.
As of Thursday evening, 55 people had lost their lives, making it the deadliest tower fire in Hong Kong’s history. The number is expected to rise, with more than 200 persons still reported missing.
Via online news outlet Boomhead, a video of just how quickly the fire spread.
This photo from Reuter’s Tyrone Siu became the face of the disaster on Wednesday as one man pleads for help to find his missing wife.
The scene on Wednesday evening.
One of the deceased is 37-year-old Hong Kong fire fighter Ho Wai-ho, who was planning to get married next month.
Drone footage on Thursday morning via HKHub.
By midday Thursday, the blaze was mostly under control, with more than 500 residents are staying in nine temporary shelters.
But there were still spot fires at 5.50pm.
The buildings were under renovation hence the bamboo scaffolding and mesh surrounding the towers. The bamboo scaffolding is not currently a line of investigation for the blaze.
However the quality of the protective netting, and use of styrofoam in the apartment renovations is the main line of inquiry for police, with three men from the construction company involved arrested on Thursday.
The use of highly flammable styrofoam installed in the window frames to protect the glass may explain why the fire took hold inside the building, unlike a similar mesh fire in Central back in October that mostly only affected the exterior of the building.
View of Wang Fuk Court from 2024, via Threads user austinwonderland
Meanwhile…
The Independent Commission Against Corruption has begun a formal investigation.
Chief Executive John Lee inspected the disaster zone on Thursday afternoon, before holding a press conference.
<Insert the CE’s message to the world about the disaster here>
The 2025 OxFam Trailwalker has been cancelled due to the fire.
With so many lives lost and people displaced, it is a dark time for Hong Kong. May those who perished rest in peace, and my thoughts are with the survivors. 💔
very sad indeed…i have visited Tai Po several times. It is amazing that HK has such marked contrasts in wealth…a negligent government that feels more obliged to march in lockstep with fascist china, than take care of the millions surviving in tiny cages called homes…seniors ignored to continue to survive their mere survival lifestyles…this bleak outlook will continue indefinitely…hk has no future…it’s future has been banished overseas…