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The Tai Po fire exposed Hong Kong’s longstanding failures in law enforcement, building management & judicial oversight, writes Dr Ping-fat Sze
- The Tai Po blaze in November 2025, which claimed 168 lives, has exposed deeper problems of laxity in law enforcement and judicial bias in building management disputes.
The administration of Hong Kong was brought under the international spotlight again at the end of last year, with the heavy death toll from the blaze that engulfed a residential complex in Tai Po.
On the afternoon of 26 November 2025, the scaffolding of one of the eight residential blocks under renovation started burning. The fire subsequently moved inside the building and leapt to the scaffoldings of the other blocks. Neither the police nor the fire service evacuated the residential complex when the fire started. The residents were repeatedly advised to stay in their flats (without power and water), but fire personnel did not enter the blocks looking for them until the next day. Consequently, many of the residents
