A massive fire at Wang Fuk Court in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong erupted on Wednesday afternoon, quickly spreading through multiple high rise residential buildings with bamboo scaffolding, trapping hundreds of residents, triggering mass panic, overwhelming firefighters, killing at least 55 people, injuring many others.
In the latest Reuters News report at least 55 people have been confirmed killed with hundreds still missing. The complex housed 4,600 apartments and was undergoing renovations. The 31 story buildings were covered in nylon mesh and bamboo scaffolding, with reports of foam insulation sprayed on the outside of the windows.
As the fire spread, the construction mesh and bamboo became ablaze and triggered fallout on the surrounding buildings, spreading the fire throughout the complex. The fire entered the buildings trapping many residents on the upper floors as the horrific inferno spread.
The videos and still images are terrible. 24 hours later and the heat inside the buildings is too intense for firefighters conducting search and rescue efforts. An absolute nightmare for those who lived in the buildings.
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Dear God, bring these grieving families to Your throne of comfort. Their pain is unimaginable as they anguish the loss of their loved ones. Father of mercy and comfort wrap Your loving arms around them. Help them to breathe and overcome the choking knot of despair in their throat. Please provide strength for their continued faith in You even through this unfathomable pain. Lavish them with Your love and fill the void in their crushed and broken hearts.
In Jesus’ powerful name, I believe and pray.
Amen.
Unfortunately I have seen bamboo scaffolding in many of the Asian countries I have visited. Frightening but true.
Believable, bamboo in some cases is lighter and stronger than some grades of lumber for certain uses and easier to get in that region. Still quite flammable unfortunately.
Actually bamboo is not highly flammable but the shade cloth and foam insulation is. There is a chinese building cladding that consists of an aluminum sandwich with highly flammable foam in the middle. There have been cases of it catching fire here in OZ. Once alight it goes off like a roman candle, burns with the intensity of thermite and runs up through the entire building. There are massive refit projects underway here in Queensland to remove it all before any more fires happen. Big thing is, it was imported and used but never certified to Australian Standards for building cladding.
Thank you for the information. In the USA I have read that homes with the sprayed foam insulation are unsaleable. It is suppose to be toxic. I was perplexed at the way the fire was conducting, I guess now we know. Even a hard rectum like me is saddened beyond belief over this.
A lot of the spray foam contains high levels of formaldehyde, extremely toxic crap that outgasses. A lot of MDF also used it but I think that has been stopped now, at least in Oz.
One question. How many buildings fell down? Guess the Chinese know how to build them better than us?
This is just horrific. I have been praying for these people as well as our National Guardsmen. Prayer for a miracle for both.
Beware high-rise buildings – fires, jets (Twin Towers), earthquakes, elevator breakdowns. So many trapped people. Awful.
I was 10 stories up in a motel in Mexico when an earth quake struck. I was still recovering from a crushed right femur. Not a great vacation for me but hey wife and kids happy. haha. Made it down to ground level by the stairs. Anyway I will never and so far have not stayed in anything higher that the second floor. Paranoid? Maybe.
And sinking sand, like that sky scraper in Florida.
Very very sad
China does this all the time.
Crams thousands of people into high rise apartments
I mean how does one escape from a fire on the top floors?
Coming to Mamdani’s New York with him wanting to cram illegals into many buildings
The movie Towering Inferno comes to mind
In 2010, I looked in the closet of my room at the Waldorf Astoria, in the Embassy District of Beijing, and was surprised to find a gas mask. I guess I was supposed to feel reassured that I was taken care of, in the event the place went up in flames. I have never forgotten that little box with the gas mask inside. Yikes!
It was only slightly less freaky than the drive the Audi 6 made through the Embassy District, just behind the hotel. As we passed through at a very slow speed, I noticed that the guards were Chinese. There were lots of Chinese military guards standing along the sidewalk, along the exterior of the embassy fences and gates. Of course, they were not there to protect foreign embassies. They were there to tackle any locals that planned on bum rushing through any of the embassy gates to seek asylum. They stared at us as we slowly passed by. It was creepy.
Every time the hotel car took us somewhere, we passed down the same boulevard of Chinese military guards, and it always creeped me out. When we returned home, I looked up foreign embassy district, Beijing, on YouTube. There were lots of videos of people making the run through some of those gates. So sad.
Just horrible! A real inferno – how did it spread to more buildings?
Sundance, Thank you so much for posting that beautiful and powerful prayer. I have no doubt that our God heard it. Many blessings to you, Sir, and may our Holy Father help those people who survived and recieve those who parished.
I hope you won’t mind if I post again your prayer here.
“Dear God, bring these grieving families to Your throne of comfort. Their pain is unimaginable as they anguish the loss of their loved ones. Father of mercy and comfort wrap Your loving arms around them. Help them to breathe and overcome the choking knot of despair in their throat. Please provide strength for their continued faith in You even through this unfathomable pain. Lavish them with Your love and fill the void in their crushed and broken hearts.
In Jesus’ powerful name, I believe and pray.”
“Amen”
Amen and Amen.
This looks like 911 x 911.
After the collapse of the bridge and now this….
At this stage, the cause of the fire is unknown.
Keep in mind though, arson is a terrorist tool.
If terrorists want to send some kind of message (overt or covert), terrorists can use an ‘anytime anywhere’ mentality to display their skills.
Unrelated, here is a link to an article titled “Churches are burning across Europe. But why?”
Are any of these steel framed buildings? Did any of them collapse into their own foot print.?
What a nightmare. Prayers for Hong Kong.
Sundance, I join you in heart-felt prayers for all of these people involved – from the victims to the families, firefighters and all involved in this horrible tragedy. May our great God give them strength and peace, resolutions and resolve. In Jesus mighty name. Amen.
Amen, dear God.
Not breathing reduces the risk of self harm associated with shock and unconsolable grief….I guess.
There are similarities to the Grenfell Apartment building fire in London in 2017. We passed it on the crew bus every week and it made headlines at the time, then sat there as a burned out shell for many months. Absolutely horrifying to see — there was no way out for those people. Same problem with materials on the outside of the building catching fire and trapping everyone inside — also during renovation.
There was a big Inquiry in England at the time, and some practices were then outlawed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/world/asia/bamboo-scaffolding-hong-kong-fire.html
That is one of the first things I thought of, followed by the Surfside, Florida tower condo building that collapsed with people in it, killing 98 people.
This is one of the most horrific things I have ever seen. Lord God bless those that suffered.
It wasn’t the bamboo. The bamboo survived the fire.
I just watched the movie 9/11: The Falling Man last week.
There were many, many jumpers, many of which never could be identified. They covered up these stories and photos, choosing instead to rally around the people who came to help. They were literally buried in more ways than one.
These buildings are drastically smaller and yet I could see a scenario like this happening here. You choice is going up in flames or not.