Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in a century: How it spread

Wang Fuk Court housing estate, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, November 26, 2025 [Tyrone Siu-Reuters] via Al-Jazeera

At least 55 people have died and 279 are missing following Hong Kong’s worst fire in more than 100 years tore through several high-rise buildings on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Firefighters are still fighting the blaze in the Tai Po neighbourhood, and trying to reach people who are trapped inside.

By early Thursday morning, officials said they had brought the fire in four buildings under control, but firefighters were still working on three others more than 16 hours after the blaze started.

What happened in Hong Kong?

An apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po neighbourhood caught fire at about 2:51pm (06:51 GMT) local time on Wednesday.

The fire began on the bamboo scaffolding outside one of the buildings. This type of scaffolding, made from bamboo poles used by workers during repairs, burns very easily. Once the scaffolding caught fire, the flames quickly spread up the structure and into the building, and then to nearby towers.

The blocks were also wrapped in green construction netting all the way to the rooftops due to ongoing renovation work, which also caught fire, helping it spread faster.

According to local media, the fire intensified rapidly: By 3:34pm (07:34 GMT), it had reached a level four alarm, and by 6:22pm (10:22 GMT), it had reached a level five alarm – the highest alert level in Hong Kong.

The blaze is Hong Kong’s deadliest in more than 100 years. In 1918, a fire ripped through the city’s Happy Valley Racecourse, killing 614 people.

In August 1962, a fire in the city’s Sham Shui Po district killed 44 people, while a fire at the Garley Building on Nathan Road in Kowloon killed 41 people and injured 81 others in November 1996. - Al-Jazeera