【明報專訊】THE FIRE THAT BROKE OUT AT NEW LUCKY HOUSE ON JORDAN ROAD has once again laid bare fire safety and management issues in old buildings. It is certainly a cause for concern whether the inspection work of the Fire Services Department (FSD) is adequate. Worst still, Fire Safety Directions issued by the Buildings Department (BD) to the building have not been actioned for over ten years, which is even unacceptable.
A No.3 Alarm fire at New Lucky House killed five and injured 40. A number of those who have been hospitalised are still in critical condition. New Lucky House is packed with guesthouses and subdivided units. Talking about the rescue work yesterday (11 April), Lam Kin Kwan, the FSD's Kowloon South divisional commander, said there are three noteworthy points. First, he mentioned that the building had different subdivided units, and the internal structure had been modified, making the rescue more difficult. This means it is highly likely that illegal modifications were made inside the building.
Second, Lam said that there were three staircases in the building, one of which was almost smoke-free during the fire. Over a hundred residents evacuated via it. However, the staircase close to the main entrance were affected by heavy smoke. It was found that some smoke-proof doors on the staircase were damaged, which is believed to be one of the reasons for the dense smoke in the stairwell. In this fire, a man died in the stairwell between the seventh and eighth floors, which is far away from where the fire had started (the first floor). Had the smoke doors of the building functioned normally, the casualties should have been reduced.
Third, Lam said that during the rescue process, it was found that the building's fire protection equipment did not appear to have valid annual inspection records, adding that the FSD would take further law enforcement actions if necessary. This observation matches residents' complaints about expired fire extinguishers and damaged fire hose reels in the building. This is puzzling, since officers from the FSD had found "no problems" during the most recent inspection on 9 February this year.
The Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance, which was implemented in 2007, stipulates that old buildings built before 1987 must be upgraded to "a level in line with the current fire safety standards". This involves the installation of equipment such as automatic sprinkler systems and fire hose reels. The FSD and the BD conduct inspections, take law enforcement actions and help building owners comply with the requirements of the ordinance. There are about 14,000 target buildings regulated by the ordinance, and New Lucky House is certainly one of them. According to government figures, as of the end of October last year, the FSD and the BD had completed the inspections of about 11,000 target buildings and issued a total of about 350,000 "Fire Safety Directions". However, about 60% of these Directions have yet to be actioned or followed up. New Lucky House, unfortunately, is one of such buildings.
According to the BD, as early as 2008 — the year after the Ordinance came into effect — the department issued Fire Safety Directions to the building's Owners' Corporation, requiring New Lucky House to improve fire protection. But the building has not complied as of today.
With thousands of old buildings in Hong Kong, the government must have a set of objective and clear criteria for fire protection improvement works carried out for flat owners (the so-called default works). Not only should the authorities be considerate to old, cash-strapped owners, but they should come up with ways to deal with owners who refuse to foot the bill after the work is completed so as to ensure that the mechanism for default works will not be abused.
明報社評2024.04.12：政府代辦消防工程 制訂優次早日立法
佐敦道華豐大廈大火，再次暴露舊樓消防安全及執管問題，消防處巡查工作是否到位，固然惹人關注；屋宇署發出的消防安全指示，可以一拖10多年未完成遵辦，更是不能接受。
華豐大廈三級火5死40傷，留院傷者仍有多人危殆。華豐大廈內賓館、劏房林立，消防處九龍南分區指揮官林建軍昨天談及救援工作，有3點值得留意。首先，他提到大廈有不同間隔單位，亦曾改動內部結構，增加了救援難度。這意味大廈內部很可能存在違例的改動。
其次，林表示大廈有3條樓梯，其中一條在火警時差不多無濃煙，過百居民經此疏散，但接近正門入口的樓梯則受濃煙影響，他們發現該樓梯有部分防煙門損毁，相信是梯間濃煙密佈原因之一。今次火災有人死於遠離一樓起火地點的7至8樓梯間，倘若大廈防煙門正常發揮作用，理應可以減少傷亡。
第三，林表示救援過程發現大廈消防設備似乎並無有效年檢，有需要會採取進一步執法行動。有關說法跟居民投訴大廈滅火筒過期、消防喉轆破損不謀而合，同時亦令人對今年2月9日消防處人員最近一次巡查「並無發現問題」，百思不得其解。
《消防安全（建築物）條例》2007年實施，規定1987年前建成的舊樓，必須提升至「切合現代要求的防火保障」，包括安裝自動灑水系統、消防喉轆等，消防處屋宇署會巡查執法，協助樓宇業主遵辦條例要求。受條例規管的目標樓宇，約有1.4萬幢，華豐大廈當然是其中之一。根據政府數字，截至去年10月底，消防處和屋宇署已完成巡查約1.1萬幢目標樓宇，合共發出約35萬張「消防安全指示」，然而當中約有六成的「指示」仍待遵辦或跟進，不幸地華豐大廈也是其中之一。
根據屋宇署說法，早於2008年，即條例生效後翌年，署方已向法團發出消防安全指示，要求華豐大廈提升防火保障，惟至今大廈仍未遵辦。
全港舊樓成千上萬，政府代辦消防改善工程，須有一套客觀清晰準則。當局既要體恤財政拮据的老業主，同時也要有方法處理事後拒絕夾錢想「走數」的業主，確保代辦工程機制不會被濫用。
■/ Glossary 生字 /
lay bare : to make something known
action : to make sure that something is done or dealt with
cash-strapped : not having enough money