For months, residents at a Hong Kong apartment complex had complained about workers smoking near debris and questioned the safety of construction materials draped over their homes.
But no agency took responsibility, an inquiry into the deadly fire that tore through the complex last year has heard in recent weeks.
Testimony presented at hearings suggest that alarms had been deactivated, windows removed from evacuation staircases and water tanks drained. When trapped residents called for help, they found emergency hotlines were quickly overwhelmed.
The hearings are part of an inquiry by an independent, government-appointed committee into the November blaze at Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court towers that killed 168 people and displaced thousands of people.
A major, government-mandated renovation was underway at the complex when the fire broke out. Such projects are ubiquitous across Hong Kong, a city full of aging buildings.
Here’s what we have learned from the hearings:
A lit cigarette most likely caused the fire.
Investigators said circumstantial evidence suggested the fire that started on Nov. 26, 2025, was most likely caused by a lighted cigarette igniting cardboard boxes on an outdoor platform near the ground floor.
Investigators found cigarette butts on the platform that was used by workers during their breaks.
Video footage shows the fire spread along the building’s facade and quickly moved inside. Within 15 minutes, it had jumped to the next building. Just over an hour later, seven of the complex’s eight towers were burning.
‘Human errors’ compromised building safety systems.
Fire safety measures failed because of “human errors,” Victor Dawes, the investigation’s lead counsel, said on the first day of the hearings. He noted that fire alarms, which had been deactivated for the renovations, did not sound, delaying evacuations. Hoses and water tanks had also been disabled.
Construction workers had removed windows along the buildings’ corridors and staircases, which contributed to the fire’s rapid spread. In one building, many residents died in stairwells while trying to escape.
Cheap netting hanging from the buildings fueled the blaze, while flammable foam boards covering windows drew the fire into the apartments.
Residents’ warnings had been disregarded.
Before the fire, residents had contacted the authorities to express concerns about the foam boards, which were meant to protect the windows during the work.
Emails and phone calls showed that a Fire Department employee said the agency was not responsible for regulating window coverings. The Housing Bureau investigated but failed to take action.
Andy Yeung, the director of fire services, told the committee that the use of foam boards had essentially been unregulated before the fire. “We’re talking about a legal vacuum here,” he said.
Residents also had complained repeatedly about workers smoking on the job. Although the Labor Department conducted 17 inspections at the complex, it did not find evidence of workers smoking on site.
After a typhoon tore through protective nets covering the buildings, residents again alerted the government.
WhatsApp messages revealed that a Housing Bureau employee tipped off the renovation consultant about an inspection the day before it was to be conducted. The consultant then notified the contractor, whose workers installed fire-safe netting — but only in the areas that were to be inspected. The rest of the netting later turned out to be substandard.
Communication problems stymied rescue efforts.
Many people seeking help endured long wait times for their calls to be transferred from the police to the Fire Department, which only has 30 phone lines. In some cases, the police relied on fax machines to refer callers as lines were jammed.
Mr. Dawes played a recording of a call made by a woman who said she was hiding in the bathroom of her unit. The police dispatcher did not transfer her call and she later died. Firefighters on site lacked up-to-date information.
Safeguards to combat bid rigging were weak.
Residents of Wang Fuk Court had been sounding alarms for years about a renovation they believed was being hijacked by a bid-rigging syndicate. They had complained they were being charged steep sums while contractors used cheaper, unsafe materials.
At one hearing, a representative from the Urban Renewal Authority, an entity responsible for helping residents select consultants and contractors, admitted that the online platform used to fight bid rigging could still be manipulated by unscrupulous contractors.
The representative agreed with Mr. Dawes’s assessment that the program gave residents “a false sense of security.”
The committee is expected to complete its investigation around September.
More than 20 hearings have taken place so far. The committee has collected hundreds of witness statements and over a million pieces of evidence, including photos, WhatsApp messages and recordings of emergency calls.
But it lacks legal authority to summon witnesses or compel people to turn over evidence. Many residents have called on the government to expand the committee’s powers.
The police have arrested 16 people in connection with the fire, including employees of the contractor and consultant companies. Some have been charged with corruption and manslaughter.
The hearings are taking place in a heightened political environment. In December, Hong Kong’s government condemned “anti-China” forces for criticizing the response to the tragedy.
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