On 26 November 2025, a large fire broke out at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po District, New Territories, Hong Kong. As of 1 December 2025, there have been at least 151 deaths with 79 injured. One firefighter was killed, with 12 more injured. Many of those who died were trapped in their apartments. Five construction workers were also killed. Over 30 people remain unaccounted for.
| Date | 26 November 2025 |
|---|---|
| Time | 14:51 (HKT) |
| Duration | 43 hours 27 minutes (extinguished at 10:18 on 28 November) |
| Location | Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po District, New Territories, Hong Kong |
| Coordinates | 22°26′47″N 114°10′35″E / 22.4464°N 114.1763°E |
| Type | Residential high‑rise fire |
| Cause | Under investigation |
| Deaths | 151 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 79 |
| Arrests | 14 |
| Accused | manslaughter |
The apartment complex was undergoing major repairs to the exterior walls of all eight residential towers. Bamboo scaffolding was erected around the full height of the buildings and wrapped with construction safety netting and tarps. As early as 14:00 HKT (UTC+08:00) at Wang Cheong House (Block F), the scaffolding was ignited from an unknown source. Flammable expanded polystyrene foam boards covering the windows acted as 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.
The incident was classified as a five-alarm fire, the first since the 2008 Cornwall Court fire. It is the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since the 1948 Wing On warehouse fire in Shek Tong Tsui in which 176 people died.
Background
Wang Fuk Court
Wang Fuk Court is a subsidised government Home Ownership Scheme housing complex located in Tai Po. The estate was built in 1983 and has eight residential blocks, each 31 storeys tall with nearly 2,000 units in total. They are among the tallest buildings in Tai Po. According to the 2021 population census, there were 4,643 residents in the complex. About 40% of the residents were senior citizens aged 65 and above.
A 2016 inspection mandated large-scale repairs for the estate. In January 2024, the owners' corporation presented three repair plans, with costs ranging from HK$150 million (US$19.31 million) to HK$330 million (US$42.47 million). The first two plans, each estimated at HK$150 million, were either to repair only the damaged parts of the exterior with tessera tiles, or to repair the damaged parts and apply waterproof paint. The third plan, which was chosen, was estimated at HK$330 million and entailed completely rebuilding the exterior walls and paving them with tessera. The registered contractor was Prestige Construction and Engineering Company. The project's structural engineering consultancy was provided by Will Power Architects Company, whose two directors were later arrested by the ICAC in connection with the corruption investigation. In June 2024, Prestige could not source the original tessera tiles and switched to ceramic tiles.
At the time of the fire, the exterior wall repairs were ongoing, with all eight buildings of the complex enveloped in bamboo scaffolding and green safety netting. Furthermore, the windows of each floor's elevator room had been sealed with flammable polystyrene.
Bamboo scaffolding and construction safety netting
In 2025, several fires occurred in Hong Kong that were related to structures with bamboo scaffolding encased in construction safety nets, including one at Texaco Road, Tsuen Wan in February, and in October at Chinachem Tower in Central, at the Casa Delight construction site, and at a University of Hong Kong dormitory.
Bamboo scaffolding is typically used in Hong Kong building construction and maintenance. According to a January 2025 estimate by industry representatives, nearly 80% of the scaffolding in Hong Kong was bamboo-based. The chairperson of the Hong Kong Institution of Safety Practitioners, Lee Kwong-sing, stated that bamboo scaffolding and fire-retardant netting that meets government requirements are not easily ignited, and that the main cause of such fires is usually the presence of a large amount of debris, which can readily combust when exposed to sparks generated during construction.
While the Labour Department has issued safety guidelines that stipulate that the netting used with bamboo scaffolding must meet certain flame-retardant requirements, the guidelines have no legal effects or ramifications if ignored. Consequently some sites may have opted to use ordinary netting without flame retardancy as a cost-saving measure. In response to the fire, the Labour Department initiated a territory-wide special enforcement operation on 29 November to inspect fire protection facilities at building repair worksites featuring large bamboo scaffolding structures. By early December, 46 sites had been inspected, resulting in 39 written warnings and two improvement notices being issued to contractors and site supervisors.
Prestige Construction had a prior history of safety violations. The company was convicted of two safety offences in a Mid-Levels project in November 2023 and was fined three times in 2023 for separate violations totalling HK$30,000. A shareholder of the company was imprisoned in 2009 for bribing the Housing Society. Prior to the Wang Fuk Court fire, the Labour Department had conducted 16 inspections of the site since July 2024, with the final inspection occurring just one week before the fire. Three prosecutions had been initiated and six improvement notices issued during this period. On 17 March 2025, government authorities announced that they will begin to phase out the use of bamboo and replace it with metal scaffolding, stating that bamboo deteriorates over time, has contributed to 23 deaths in scaffolding-related accidents since 2018, and is combustible. Following the Wang Fuk Court fire, China's Ministry of Emergency Management announced a nationwide inspection campaign of high-rise buildings, with particular focus on structures undergoing external wall renovations and internal modifications. After the Chinachem Tower fire, the Buildings Department issued a statement urging enhanced flame-retardant standards for construction safety nets used for exterior walls at construction sites.
According to Eric Chan, Chief Secretary for Administration, seven of the 20 samples of the netting tested were found non-compliant with fire safety regulation, which he attributed to Prestige Construction purposefully concealing the cheaper, flammable, material in "areas difficult to access". To mislead inspectors, fire-resistant netting was only placed at the base of the scaffolding, where samples are usually taken.
Other potential contributory factors
On the day of the fire Hong Kong was affected by the northeast monsoon season, and the weather was dry and the winds were strong. The relative humidity recorded in the district area for that afternoon was 40% to 50%. A Red Fire Danger Warning was issued by the Hong Kong Observatory on 24 November due to dry conditions; it remained in force on the day of the fire.
Residents had alleged as early as September 2024 that the construction workers had been smoking, littering cigarette butts throughout the construction site. The Labour Department had made several inspections, but found that the safety nets were certified to meet flame retardant standards. A former security staff also claimed that as early as May 2025, he found that the fire alarm system was turned off intentionally so that workers could enter and exit buildings more conveniently.
The construction safety netting enclosed the buildings in a manner that created a chimney effect, promoting strong upward convection and contributing to rapid fire growth.
Fire
- 0:00—Fourth floor
- 0:16—Firefighters arrive
- 0:28—Eighth floor
- 0:32—"Between the buildings"
- (Cantonese audio with English subtitles; strong language)
As early as 14:00 HKT (UTC+08:00) on 26 November 2025, signs of a fire at Wang Cheong House (Block F) appeared with a resident at Wang Shing House (Block G) smelling smoke through her window. Having spotted a small flame burning in a neighbouring apartment unit, she tried to contact the property management office to no avail. She went down to the ground, only to be told by the security guard at her lift lobby that there was a fire going on. She went back to her apartment unit and sheltered in place and was later rescued. By 14:45, there were more eyewitness reports of the bamboo scaffolding along the exterior walls of Wang Cheong House having caught fire. The fire department received their first report at 14:51. 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 fire alarms ringing. It was later determined that none of the fire alarms had activated in any of the eight towers. Other residents were notified of the fire through communication groups and neighbours knocking on doors.
Timeline
26 November
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