XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.firefighters, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.home.repair   
   From: j_d@invalid.org   
      
   HONG KONG — The deadly inferno that tore through a high-rise housing   
   estate in Hong Kong killed at least 128 people, authorities said Friday,   
   with dozens of residents still feared trapped on upper floors.   
      
   A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Fire Services Department said that there   
   were 76 people injured, including 11 firefighters, by early morning Friday   
   local time.   
      
   Authorities arrested three people and launched a criminal investigation   
   into the blaze, the Chinese territory’s deadliest in seven decades, which   
   firefighters have been battling for more than 24 hours.   
      
   The fire at Wang Fuk Court in the northern district of Tai Po is nearly   
   extinguished, said Derek Armstrong Chan, the deputy director of Hong Kong   
   Fire Services, in an update early Friday local time.   
      
   Firefighters were still searching the building for residents trapped by   
   the intense heat and thick smoke that was pouring out of the complex on   
   Thursday, and Chan said debris and scaffolding falling from upper floors   
   had complicated rescue efforts. At least 72 people were injured in the   
   fire.   
      
   A 48-year-old woman named Cindy, who declined to give her full name for   
   privacy reasons, said she grew up in Wang Fuk Court and felt “very sad”   
   and “helpless” to see her parents’ home completely burned down.   
      
   Cindy told NBC News on a sidewalk across from the affected buildings that   
   her family managed to escape and was now safe. “I really hope there are   
   survivors. I’m wishing for a miracle to happen,” she added. “No one in the   
   world can sleep now.”   
      
   Though the origin of the fire was unclear, investigators were focusing on   
   the bamboo scaffolding and green netting that surrounded the towers at   
   Wang Fuk Court as renovations were carried out.   
      
   Experts said they appeared to help flames leap from building to building   
   as the blaze grew into an inferno that engulfed seven of the estate’s   
   eight towers.   
      
   Chan said: “Our preliminary view is that the fire spreading so fast is   
   likely related to these materials. But ... whether that is actually the   
   case, we have to wait for our fire investigation colleagues to conduct an   
   investigation to confirm.”   
      
   Police searched the offices of Prestige Construction and Engineering Co.,   
   the registered contractor hired to carry out the renovations, after   
   earlier arresting two directors and an engineering consultant on suspicion   
   of manslaughter.   
      
   Multiple calls to the company from NBC News went unanswered Thursday.   
      
   The city’s anticorruption agency said it was launching an investigation   
   into possible corruption in the renovation project.   
      
   John Lee, Hong Kong’s top leader, said the government would set up a fund   
   worth 300 million Hong Kong dollars ($38.6 million) to help residents   
   displaced from their homes, and that each household affected would receive   
   an emergency cash allowance of 10,000 Hong Kong dollars ($1,285) by   
   Thursday night. More than 500 people were staying at nine temporary   
   shelters after the blaze.   
      
   Lee also said the Hong Kong Development Bureau had met with industry   
   representatives to discuss gradually replacing the city’s iconic bamboo   
   scaffolding with metal, as the construction material becomes a focal point   
   of the fire investigation.   
      
   Renovations on the towers, which were built in 1983 and contain almost   
   2,000 residential units, began last year. According to Hong Kong’s 2021   
   census, about a third of Wang Fuk Court’s 4,600 residents are 65 and   
   older.   
      
   Fire officials said an older man was rescued from the rooftop of the 31st   
   floor of one tower about 20 hours after the fire began, and was sent to   
   the hospital for observation. Firefighters were also seen evacuating a   
   number of pets.   
      
   Lee said earlier Thursday that officials were investigating whether   
   protective materials on exterior walls met fire-retardant standards and   
   that legal action would be brought if necessary.   
      
   Security Secretary Chris Tang said authorities would pursue a criminal   
   investigation, citing two “unusual” circumstances.   
      
   The first involved the protective nets, waterproof canvas and plastic   
   sheeting on the external walls of the towers.   
      
   “Once ignited, the intensity and speed of the fire’s spread were far   
   greater than that of materials meeting safety standards,” Tang said.   
      
   He also said glass windows had been sealed with styrofoam boards, “which   
   spread fire very easily when exposed to heat.”   
      
   Among those killed was Ho Wai-ho, a 37-year-old firefighter who was one of   
   the first people to respond. He died in the hospital after being found   
   collapsed at the scene of the fire.   
      
   Ho had been a member of the Fire Services Department (FSD) for about nine   
   years, director Andy Yeung said.   
      
   “I am profoundly grieved at the loss of this dedicated and gallant   
   fireman,” Yeung said in a statement.   
      
   The Indonesian Consulate said two of the people killed and two of those   
   injured were Indonesian nationals. All of them were foreign domestic   
   helpers employed by Hong Kong residents to assist with housework and   
   caregiving.   
      
   Countries around the world sent condolences.   
      
   “We are deeply saddened by the tragic fire in Tai Po. Our thoughts are   
   with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this   
   devastating fire,” the U.S. consul general in Hong Kong said in a post on   
   Instagram.   
      
   Pope Leo XIV also sent his condolences in a letter to Hong Kong’s Cardinal   
   Stephen Chow, expressing “spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from   
   the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who   
   grieve.”   
      
   Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences late Wednesday and   
   urged “all-out efforts” to minimize casualties and losses in Hong Kong, a   
   densely populated city of 7.5 million people.   
      
   By Thursday afternoon, officials said, the fire had been extinguished at   
   four of the seven towers, while flames at the other three were under   
   control.   
      
   Though there was less smoke than earlier, it continued to billow from the   
   buildings, and the air smelled of burned plastic as firefighters sprayed   
   water from multiple aerial ladders.   
      
   Hong Kong residents were collecting donations for those affected. Across   
   the street from the estate, volunteers set up a makeshift relief point,   
   where people brought bottled water, bread and face masks in bags and   
   carts.   
      
   “It’s really amazing — so many people from all walks of life have brought   
   in a lot of stuff voluntarily,” volunteer Fion Ho said in an interview.   
   “There’s even so much that we’ve had to stop accepting more.”   
      
   At the nearby Tung Cheong Street Sports Center, volunteers said they had   
   helped register more than 200 residents affected by the fire so they could   
   be placed in proper housing elsewhere in Hong Kong, where the lack of   
   affordable housing is a chronic issue.   
      
      
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