Four dead as fire rages through Hong Kong high-rise

A fire has spread across high-rise apartment buildings in a Hong Kong housing complex, killing four people and leaving others trapped inside.

Video from the scene showed at least five buildings close to each other ablaze, with bright flames and smoke shooting out of many of the apartments’ windows as night fell.

Firefighters were aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke on Wednesday as it spread on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the complex in Tai Po district, in the New Territories.

Records show the housing complex consisted of eight blocks with almost 2000 apartments housing about 4800 people.

The Hong Kong government reported four deaths and said five other people were hospitalised.

Three of the injured were in critical condition, one in serious condition and the other person was stable, a brief statement said.

The dead included one firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Department director Andy Yeung told reporters.

Police said they had received reports of people trapped in the affected buildings, but did not provide details.

Lo Hiu-fung, a Taipo District Council member, told local TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.

The blaze was reported midafternoon, and after nightfall authorities upgraded it to a level five alarm, the highest level of severity, the fire department said.

District officials in Tai Po have opened temporary shelters for people left homeless by the fire.

“I’ve given up thinking about my property,” a resident who only provided his surname, Wu, told TVB.

“Watching it burn like that was really frustrating.”

Tai Po is a suburban area in the New Territories, in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight in Hong Kong at building construction and renovation projects, though the government said earlier in 2025 that it would start phasing it out for public projects because of safety concerns.