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28 November 2025
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Major fires break out in several high-rise buildings in Hong Kong
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On Wednesday, 26 November 2025, a large fire broke out at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po District, New Territories, Hong Kong. The fire killed at least 159, including one firefighter and injured 79 as of 3 December 2025. Thirty-one people remain unaccounted for. Most of the casualties were found in their apartments. Twelve firefighters were injured responding to the incident and one was killed, identified as 37-year-old Ho Wai-ho, a nine-year veteran of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (FSD) based in Sha Tin Fire Station. Reports indicate he arrived at the scene shortly after the fire was reported and lost contact with his colleagues around 30 minutes later; his body was discovered with burn injuries to his face.
The apartment complex was undergoing major repairs to the exterior walls of all eight residential towers. Bamboo scaffolding was erected to the full height of the buildings and wrapped with construction safety nets and tarps. As early as 14:00 HKT (UTC+08:00) at Wang Cheong House (Block F), the safety netting covering the lower floors was ignited. Flammable expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) boards covering the windows acted as potential accelerants for the fire, which quickly spread inside the building and to the adjacent blocks. Seven of the eight buildings of the complex were ultimately affected by the fire, while Wang Chi House (Block H) survived unscathed.
It is the first five-alarm fire in Hong Kong since the 2008 Cornwall Court fire and the deadliest fire accident in Hong Kong since the 1948 Wing On warehouse fire in which 176 people died.
The fire is believed to have started from the safety netting covering the lower floors of Wang Cheong House (Block F). As early as 14h00 HKT (UTC+08:00), signs of a fire at Wang Cheong House (Block F) first appeared when a resident at Wang Shing House (Block G) smelled smoke through her window. Through a gap in the mesh, she spotted a small flame burning in an apartment unit in Block F and attempted to contact the property management office to no avail. She then went down to the ground floor, only to be told by the security guard at the lift lobby that there was a fire. She went back to her apartment unit and sheltered in place until she was rescued. By 14:45, there were more eyewitness reports of the bamboo scaffolding along the exterior walls of Wang Cheong House having caught fire. Seen in the first footage posted on social media, a bystander outside repeatedly shouted in dismay that there was no fire alarm.
The fire department received the first report at 14:51; firefighters arrived in ten minutes but the fire had already escalated rapidly. The police received reports from passersby at around 15:00 and subsequently more calls from residents who reported that they were unable to escape. Some residents stated that they did not hear the fire alarm sirens even though they had broken the fire alarm glass and pressed the button; it was later determined that none of the fire alarms had activated in all of the eight towers. Other residents were notified of the fire through communication groups and neighbours knocking on doors.
The emergency alert was raised from a 1 alarm to 4 by 15:34 and to the highest level, 5, by 18:22. The emergency response included 128 fire trucks, 57 ambulances and 767 firefighters. The fire began spreading on the scaffolding, moving indoors through the windows and then to all but one of the other buildings. At 20:15, the fire department reported that the conditions on scene continued to worsen, with debris falling from above and calls for help increasing, therefore necessitating the level 5 alarm to bring in more firefighters. Many residents remained trapped in their apartment units, however, the firefighters could not enter the buildings due to intense heat. Authorities instructed these trapped residents to shelter in place, and to seal window gaps and doors as the firefighters continued to try accessing the buildings to rescue them. Firefighters deployed seven ladders to douse the exterior of each burning building with water. At the same time, firefighters accessed the unaffected eighth building to activate the rooftop fire protection system to prevent a further fire spread and to fight the fire on the neighbouring building. Throughout the night, explosions were heard from various apartment units in the burning buildings.
A small wildfire also broke out at 22:13 across the Tai Po River from the apartment complex, close to Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School; it was mostly extinguished by 23:00.
Under control
At 01:50 on 27 November 2025, the fire was being brought under control, with open flames on three buildings extinguished and embers remaining in some areas. At 05:45, firefighting operations were carried out between the fifth and eighteenth floors, while rescue operations were being extended upwards to between the thirteenth and twenty-third floors. The temperature within the high-rise buildings remained high, making rescue operations difficult. The fire in the fourth building was brought under control at 06:23 and search and rescue efforts began at the lower floors. By 09:00, three of the seven buildings were still on fire. By 15:10, the fire department had deployed 304 fire and rescue vehicles and dispatched 1 250 firefighters. They received 341 calls for help and successfully responded to 279 calls. Among the four buildings that were under control, there were no more calls for help. Operations by then involved re-ignition prevention measures, which included reducing the temperatures outside the buildings that were still on fire and the deployment of four drones to patrol the area.
At 23:15, the fire within Wang Cheong House (Block F) reignited, while two other buildings, Wang Tao House (Block B) and Wang Yan House (Block A), continued to have embers burning. At 01:20 on 28 November, the fire department reported that other than four apartment units that still had fire burning, the firefighting operation for the complex was largely completed. All apartment units within the seven buildings were forcibly accessed to ensure that no one was trapped in the complex. A fire reignited from within an apartment unit at 05:45 and was put out at 07:30.
At 10:18, the fire department announced that the fire was mostly put out after 43 hours of firefighting operations. Up to 2 311 firefighters were involved throughout the effort, with peak temperatures at the site estimated at 500 °C.
Victims
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the first five-alarm fire in Hong Kong since the 2008 Cornwall Court fire and the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since the 1948 Wing On warehouse fire in Shek Tong Tsui in which 176 people died.
Around 56 people were rescued from the fire. At least 159 people were confirmed to have been killed while 79 others were injured. Over 40 were in critical condition initially; four were in critical condition as of 3 December 2025. Of the fatalities, 147 were declared dead on scene while four others died in hospital. The victims' ages ranged from between one to 97 years. Bodies were found inside apartments as well as public areas, including stairwells and corridors.
Twelve firefighters were injured responding to the incident and one was killed, identified as 37-year-old Ho Wai-ho, a nine-year veteran of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (FSD) based in Sha Tin Fire Station. Reports indicate he arrived at the scene shortly after the fire was reported and lost contact with his colleagues around 30 minutes later; his body was discovered with burn injuries to his face.
235 overseas workers from the Philippines and Indonesia worked for residents in Wang Fuk Court. As of 1 December 2025, one Filipino and nine Indonesians were killed; three were injured; and 30 remain unaccounted for. Five construction workers were also killed, after they failed to put out the fire and were forced to retreat indoors.
Missing and identification
Chief Executive of Hong Kong John Lee reported on 26 November that at least 279 people were missing. Two days later the police said they received 467 missing persons reports, some of them duplicates. Of those missing, 39 were found dead and 35 required hospitalisation. A further 110 people were confirmed safe, and the condition of about 200 people remained unknown, including 89 whose bodies could not be identified.
After the rescue operations ended on 28 November,[43] the Disaster Victims Identification Unit [zh] deployed 600 members to the scene to search for, recover, and identify any bodies within the burned buildings. Among the missing and unidentified bodies found, the 37 dead were previously reported missing, and 54 dead remained unidentified. There were still 150 missing persons. On 1 December, it was reported that over 30 people remain unaccounted for, with 100 missing person cases classified as "untraceable" due to insufficient information. However, 159 people were confirmed to be safe, with 54 bodies still requiring identification. Some bodies were burnt to ashes, hence some missing persons may not be identified. The search for bodies inside the seven affected buildings concluded on 3 December.
As of 3 December, 19 bodies still required identification and 31 persons remained unaccounted for.
Animals
According to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), over 500 animals were trapped in the buildings during the fire. The organisation said that they would stay on site to triage, provide treatment, and work to rescue (or recover) any animals remaining. As of 3 December, 294 animals have been rescued, including 87 fish, 80 cats and 62 turtles, among other species. Seventy animals died after rescue and more than 170 are still missing. Police officers deployed to search for remains found and rescued three cats and a turtle.
Recovery and relief, Initial public response
Soon after the fire, several online communities in Tai Po mobilised to assist the affected residents and ask for the public to donate aids. Over 1 000 residents were evacuated to the nearby Kwong Fuk Shopping Centre. Shops, restaurants, and churches in the district opened as temporary rest areas, providing free food and assisting in the collection and distribution of donated materials. Residents were later evacuated into temporary shelters set up in nearby community halls, centres, and schools. Many volunteered to help sort and distribute food and daily necessities and drove overnight to deliver supplies to various locations. A website was set up to allow residents to report their safety and to post information on missing persons.
Recovery and relief: Government
Chief Executive John Lee activated the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre, and chaired an emergency interdepartmental meeting. The authorities convened three working groups with each focusing on investigations and regulations, emergency support and fundraising, and emergency accommodations arrangements.
The government established a support fund on 27 November 2025 to render assistance to the victims, with each affected family to receive HK$10,000 (US$1,287) in emergency relief funds. The public were able to contribute directly to this fund. The relief fund reached over HK$1.2 billion (US$154.44 million), comprising HK$900 million (US$115.83 million) in public donations and HK$300 million (US$38.61 million) in government grants. 1,420 of 1,900 registered households receiving payment by 30 November. Additional compensation included HK$200,000 per deceased victim for family members, HK$50,000 for funeral expenses and related costs, HK$50,000 living allowance beginning in early December, and columbarium fees being waived for deceased residents. In addition, the Social Welfare Department provided affected residents with Octopus cards with $2,000 of stored credit, with each resident receiving one card to facilitate their daily travel.
In the aftermath, the Hong Kong government announced it would begin to phase out the use of bamboo scaffolding and replace it with metal for public projects. The Chief Executive ordered an independent committee to investigate the cause of the tragedy.
Sources: Various
The apartment complex was undergoing major repairs to the exterior walls of all eight residential towers. Bamboo scaffolding was erected to the full height of the buildings and wrapped with construction safety nets and tarps. As early as 14:00 HKT (UTC+08:00) at Wang Cheong House (Block F), the safety netting covering the lower floors was ignited. Flammable expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) boards covering the windows acted as potential accelerants for the fire, which quickly spread inside the building and to the adjacent blocks. Seven of the eight buildings of the complex were ultimately affected by the fire, while Wang Chi House (Block H) survived unscathed.
It is the first five-alarm fire in Hong Kong since the 2008 Cornwall Court fire and the deadliest fire accident in Hong Kong since the 1948 Wing On warehouse fire in which 176 people died.
The fire is believed to have started from the safety netting covering the lower floors of Wang Cheong House (Block F). As early as 14h00 HKT (UTC+08:00), signs of a fire at Wang Cheong House (Block F) first appeared when a resident at Wang Shing House (Block G) smelled smoke through her window. Through a gap in the mesh, she spotted a small flame burning in an apartment unit in Block F and attempted to contact the property management office to no avail. She then went down to the ground floor, only to be told by the security guard at the lift lobby that there was a fire. She went back to her apartment unit and sheltered in place until she was rescued. By 14:45, there were more eyewitness reports of the bamboo scaffolding along the exterior walls of Wang Cheong House having caught fire. Seen in the first footage posted on social media, a bystander outside repeatedly shouted in dismay that there was no fire alarm.
The fire department received the first report at 14:51; firefighters arrived in ten minutes but the fire had already escalated rapidly. The police received reports from passersby at around 15:00 and subsequently more calls from residents who reported that they were unable to escape. Some residents stated that they did not hear the fire alarm sirens even though they had broken the fire alarm glass and pressed the button; it was later determined that none of the fire alarms had activated in all of the eight towers. Other residents were notified of the fire through communication groups and neighbours knocking on doors.
The emergency alert was raised from a 1 alarm to 4 by 15:34 and to the highest level, 5, by 18:22. The emergency response included 128 fire trucks, 57 ambulances and 767 firefighters. The fire began spreading on the scaffolding, moving indoors through the windows and then to all but one of the other buildings. At 20:15, the fire department reported that the conditions on scene continued to worsen, with debris falling from above and calls for help increasing, therefore necessitating the level 5 alarm to bring in more firefighters. Many residents remained trapped in their apartment units, however, the firefighters could not enter the buildings due to intense heat. Authorities instructed these trapped residents to shelter in place, and to seal window gaps and doors as the firefighters continued to try accessing the buildings to rescue them. Firefighters deployed seven ladders to douse the exterior of each burning building with water. At the same time, firefighters accessed the unaffected eighth building to activate the rooftop fire protection system to prevent a further fire spread and to fight the fire on the neighbouring building. Throughout the night, explosions were heard from various apartment units in the burning buildings.
A small wildfire also broke out at 22:13 across the Tai Po River from the apartment complex, close to Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School; it was mostly extinguished by 23:00.
Under control
At 01:50 on 27 November 2025, the fire was being brought under control, with open flames on three buildings extinguished and embers remaining in some areas. At 05:45, firefighting operations were carried out between the fifth and eighteenth floors, while rescue operations were being extended upwards to between the thirteenth and twenty-third floors. The temperature within the high-rise buildings remained high, making rescue operations difficult. The fire in the fourth building was brought under control at 06:23 and search and rescue efforts began at the lower floors. By 09:00, three of the seven buildings were still on fire. By 15:10, the fire department had deployed 304 fire and rescue vehicles and dispatched 1 250 firefighters. They received 341 calls for help and successfully responded to 279 calls. Among the four buildings that were under control, there were no more calls for help. Operations by then involved re-ignition prevention measures, which included reducing the temperatures outside the buildings that were still on fire and the deployment of four drones to patrol the area.
At 23:15, the fire within Wang Cheong House (Block F) reignited, while two other buildings, Wang Tao House (Block B) and Wang Yan House (Block A), continued to have embers burning. At 01:20 on 28 November, the fire department reported that other than four apartment units that still had fire burning, the firefighting operation for the complex was largely completed. All apartment units within the seven buildings were forcibly accessed to ensure that no one was trapped in the complex. A fire reignited from within an apartment unit at 05:45 and was put out at 07:30.
At 10:18, the fire department announced that the fire was mostly put out after 43 hours of firefighting operations. Up to 2 311 firefighters were involved throughout the effort, with peak temperatures at the site estimated at 500 °C.
Victims
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the first five-alarm fire in Hong Kong since the 2008 Cornwall Court fire and the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since the 1948 Wing On warehouse fire in Shek Tong Tsui in which 176 people died.
Around 56 people were rescued from the fire. At least 159 people were confirmed to have been killed while 79 others were injured. Over 40 were in critical condition initially; four were in critical condition as of 3 December 2025. Of the fatalities, 147 were declared dead on scene while four others died in hospital. The victims' ages ranged from between one to 97 years. Bodies were found inside apartments as well as public areas, including stairwells and corridors.
Twelve firefighters were injured responding to the incident and one was killed, identified as 37-year-old Ho Wai-ho, a nine-year veteran of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (FSD) based in Sha Tin Fire Station. Reports indicate he arrived at the scene shortly after the fire was reported and lost contact with his colleagues around 30 minutes later; his body was discovered with burn injuries to his face.
235 overseas workers from the Philippines and Indonesia worked for residents in Wang Fuk Court. As of 1 December 2025, one Filipino and nine Indonesians were killed; three were injured; and 30 remain unaccounted for. Five construction workers were also killed, after they failed to put out the fire and were forced to retreat indoors.
Missing and identification
Chief Executive of Hong Kong John Lee reported on 26 November that at least 279 people were missing. Two days later the police said they received 467 missing persons reports, some of them duplicates. Of those missing, 39 were found dead and 35 required hospitalisation. A further 110 people were confirmed safe, and the condition of about 200 people remained unknown, including 89 whose bodies could not be identified.
After the rescue operations ended on 28 November,[43] the Disaster Victims Identification Unit [zh] deployed 600 members to the scene to search for, recover, and identify any bodies within the burned buildings. Among the missing and unidentified bodies found, the 37 dead were previously reported missing, and 54 dead remained unidentified. There were still 150 missing persons. On 1 December, it was reported that over 30 people remain unaccounted for, with 100 missing person cases classified as "untraceable" due to insufficient information. However, 159 people were confirmed to be safe, with 54 bodies still requiring identification. Some bodies were burnt to ashes, hence some missing persons may not be identified. The search for bodies inside the seven affected buildings concluded on 3 December.
As of 3 December, 19 bodies still required identification and 31 persons remained unaccounted for.
Animals
According to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), over 500 animals were trapped in the buildings during the fire. The organisation said that they would stay on site to triage, provide treatment, and work to rescue (or recover) any animals remaining. As of 3 December, 294 animals have been rescued, including 87 fish, 80 cats and 62 turtles, among other species. Seventy animals died after rescue and more than 170 are still missing. Police officers deployed to search for remains found and rescued three cats and a turtle.
Recovery and relief, Initial public response
Soon after the fire, several online communities in Tai Po mobilised to assist the affected residents and ask for the public to donate aids. Over 1 000 residents were evacuated to the nearby Kwong Fuk Shopping Centre. Shops, restaurants, and churches in the district opened as temporary rest areas, providing free food and assisting in the collection and distribution of donated materials. Residents were later evacuated into temporary shelters set up in nearby community halls, centres, and schools. Many volunteered to help sort and distribute food and daily necessities and drove overnight to deliver supplies to various locations. A website was set up to allow residents to report their safety and to post information on missing persons.
Recovery and relief: Government
Chief Executive John Lee activated the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre, and chaired an emergency interdepartmental meeting. The authorities convened three working groups with each focusing on investigations and regulations, emergency support and fundraising, and emergency accommodations arrangements.
The government established a support fund on 27 November 2025 to render assistance to the victims, with each affected family to receive HK$10,000 (US$1,287) in emergency relief funds. The public were able to contribute directly to this fund. The relief fund reached over HK$1.2 billion (US$154.44 million), comprising HK$900 million (US$115.83 million) in public donations and HK$300 million (US$38.61 million) in government grants. 1,420 of 1,900 registered households receiving payment by 30 November. Additional compensation included HK$200,000 per deceased victim for family members, HK$50,000 for funeral expenses and related costs, HK$50,000 living allowance beginning in early December, and columbarium fees being waived for deceased residents. In addition, the Social Welfare Department provided affected residents with Octopus cards with $2,000 of stored credit, with each resident receiving one card to facilitate their daily travel.
In the aftermath, the Hong Kong government announced it would begin to phase out the use of bamboo scaffolding and replace it with metal for public projects. The Chief Executive ordered an independent committee to investigate the cause of the tragedy.
Sources: Various
