No. 3 fire in San Po Kong｜Manual alarm system failed to operate normally Fire consultant analyzes two major crises

A No. 3 alarm fire broke out at the Yongxian factory building in San Po Kong last Saturday (28th), and it took nearly 15 hours to put out the fire.

During the investigation by the Fire Services Department that day, it was found that the manual fire alarm system of the building was not functioning properly, and there was no automatic fire alarm system on the fire floor.

Fire consultant Leung Kam-tak pointed out that if the alarm system fails to operate normally, the alarm cannot be issued, which will delay the evacuation work and may cause casualties. In addition, the current manual fire alarm system in Hong Kong is connected to the fire pump. If the system fails or is damaged, It will cause the fire pump to fail to start, resulting in insufficient water pressure, and there may not be enough water pressure for the residents and firefighters to pull the hose.

He said frankly that most buildings in Hong Kong are equipped with manual fire alarm systems except for a few low-rise buildings. Many Hong Kong people do not know enough about fire safety.

A No. 3 alarm fire broke out at the Wing Hin Factory Building in San Po Kong last Saturday (January 28).

(Photo by Weng Yuhui)

The Fire Services Department stated that officers went to the site to investigate on the same day after the fire broke out and found that the fire alarm system of the building was not functioning properly.

The Fire Services Department will continue to follow up the case and take corresponding enforcement actions in accordance with established procedures.

According to the Fire Services (Installation and Equipment) Regulations, the person who owns any fire service installation or equipment installed on any premises shall keep such fire service installation or equipment in effective working condition at all times.

Offenders are liable to a fine of $50,000 upon conviction.

The Fire Services Department also issued a "Fire Hazard Elimination Notice" to the Yong Hin Factory Building from 2019 to 2020, correcting 21 damaged smoke doors.

In addition, the Fire Services Department is prosecuting two cases of failing to comply with the "Fire Hazard Elimination Notice" within the specified time limit to rectify the fire hazard in the mini-storage.

1,100 old industrial buildings are under the supervision of the new regulations, and 70 buildings are inspected in 1 year and 4 months

In addition, the Fire Safety (Industrial Buildings) Ordinance (Cap. 636) (the "Ordinance") was officially gazetted on 19 June 2020.

The authority may direct property owners to provide or improve automatic sprinkler systems, fire hydrant and hose reel systems, emergency lighting, exit signs, auxiliary power supply, etc.

There are about 1,100 industrial buildings regulated by the Ordinance.

The Wing Hin Factory Building is one of the target industrial buildings to be dealt with in the first phase.

According to a document issued by the Legislative Council in June last year, the Fire Services Department and the Buildings Department have launched the first phase of inspection work in late November 2020. As of March 31, 2022, about 70 target industrial buildings have been inspected, and about 70 industrial buildings have been inspected. About 4,000 "Fire Safety Instructions" were issued for 50 buildings.

The current target is to inspect 60 industrial buildings each year.

Based on the current work progress, it may take ten years for the Fire Services Department and the Buildings Department to complete inspections of 1,100 industrial buildings.

Fire consultant Leung Kam-tak said that in response to the "Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance" implemented in 1997, the Fire Services Department needs to follow up on the fire safety of old commercial premises. Building, increased the workload of the Fire Services Department.

He pointed out that fire safety should be the top priority, and inspection and implementation would take 10 to 20 years, which is not ideal. He suggested that the government consider using Hong Kong qualified fire engineers to assist in the inspection work to speed up the improvement of fire safety in old buildings.

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Improve fire safety in old industrial buildings

However, in addition to the unsatisfactory inspection progress of the enforcement authority, Liang also raised a number of problems encountered in the fire safety improvement projects of industrial buildings under the requirements of the "Ordinance".

First of all, old buildings have congenital defects and may not be able to cope with the addition or modification of fire protection equipment.

Taking the addition of an automatic shower system as an example, it can be described as "motivating the whole body".

Since the automatic sprinkler system requires a large amount of water, an additional water tank needs to be installed. The installation site needs to consider the load problem, and the structural engineer needs to calculate and measure the suitable installation site.

The automatic sprinkler system also needs to be equipped with a fire pump for water supply, that is, electric braking is required, but once a fire occurs, the power may be cut off, so an emergency generator needs to be installed. Motors, and the building itself may not have a suitable place to place dangerous goods.

Another example is that the addition of fire protection equipment requires an increase in power supply. However, the power system of an old building is aging and cannot cope with the greater power demand. Therefore, it is necessary to replace the entire power system.

In the end, the owner may miss the budget.

Secondly, it takes as long as half a year for the bureau to review the fire protection system design of the old building. Delay in progress of fire safety improvement works.

However, it is not necessarily the case that the owner or contractor intentionally under-delivered the plans.

In fact, the old building has been managed by different owners or corporations over the years. The new owners or corporations may not have the old fire protection equipment drawings, and there is no channel to obtain the old drawings. It seems that the architectural drawings can be obtained from the ArchSD but.

As a result, when contractors enter the design, they will be rejected by the bureau for discrepancies with the old design.

Old buildings may have been illegally altered in the past. It was not the fault of the current owners. They didn’t even know that they had been altered. Leung once saw that “two steps are missing from a staircase”, but the bureau will demand “rectification” The project was approved only after the project was approved, causing repeated delays in the process.

Leung said frankly that various problems scare many people in the industry. "Some people in the industry are unwilling to do it, and there are too many knots that cannot be resolved." He believes that it will only stagnate the improvement of fire safety in old buildings and calls on the government to balance Whether it is serious or not, find a balance between improving fire safety as soon as possible and strictly implementing law enforcement standards, and make appropriate adjustments.

▼The scene of the fire on the day of the fire▼

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