After the fire, the building remained vacant until September 12, 2003, when the owner, China Resources, successfully unified the ownership. Now the building has been demolished and developed into a Ginza-style shopping center "JD MALL" in 2007. The Government has also amended the relevant fire protection regulations to improve the fire protection facilities in early private buildings.
Event occurrence
1996165438+1October Kerry Building is undergoing elevator replacement project. Two of the four elevators in the building have been removed, bamboo sheds have been set up in the elevator slots, and the elevator doors on each floor have also been removed and temporarily covered with wooden boards. The owners' corporation of the building has posted the following notices in the management office before the project started:
Discussion on disturbing people in elevator demolition project
To all enterprises in Kerry Building:
Elevator No.3 and No.4 in this building will be dismantled on 1 1 month 1 day (Friday). When the elevator is dismantled, there will be black smoke and peculiar smell. Please don't panic, and please forgive the nuisance and inconvenience I caused during the project.
Incorporation of Owners of Kerry Building, Nathan Road
(represented by United International Property Management Co., Ltd.)
October 30, 1996
Rescue process
165438+1at 4: 47 pm on October 20th,1/The fire chips and high-heat metal sheets cut by welding and metal cutting operations in the elevator slot on the second floor first ignited the wooden sundries and building materials in the elevator slot and the elevator lobby. Due to the above notice of the building management office, the smoke generated in the early stage of the fire did not attract the attention of the upstairs residents. The fire spread along the bamboo shed to floors 1 and 3, and affected another elevator shaft, elevator lobby and China cargo warehouse. The smoke and hot air generated by the fire are rising in the elevator slot and accumulating at the top of the elevator slot, forming a stack effect. At that time, because the elevator door of the building was only covered with wooden boards, the hot air in the elevator slot quickly burned through the coaming and entered the elevator lobby on floors 1 1 to 15. The smoke doors on floors 13 to 15 were not closed, which caused the hot air to spread to corridors and offices. After contacting with fresh air, backfire occurred in the elevator slot (commonly known as "fire grabbing"), and the high-rise buildings also generated low pressure due to the escape of hot gas. Outdoor air was pumped into the low-rise fire through the window, and the fire was very fierce.
At 4: 47 p.m., an electric welder who was working between the 0 th and 2 nd floors of elevator slot 65438 reported a fire in the elevator lobby on the 2 nd floor of Kerry Building. At 4: 48, the staff of a dental clinic on 14 floor reported that there was a lot of smoke coming out of the corridor on 14 floor. The fire department immediately dispatched four fire engines and 1 ambulance after receiving the report at 4: 49, and arrived at the scene at 4: 52. At 4: 59 pm, when the firemen were checking the top floor of the building, they found a lot of smoke on the eighth floor, which was forced back by the hot air, so they upgraded the fire alarm to a three-level alarm. And at 5 o'clock in 17, the top floor of the building burned an open flame and was promoted to level 4; And at 7 pm 15, it was upgraded to level 5 again [3].
Because the fire spread rapidly from the first floor to the third floor and from 13 to 15, the fire elevator could not be used, and the escape stairs were filled with smoke because some smoke doors were not closed, and the temperature was high, so it was difficult for firefighters to reach the scene of high-rise fire. Although the Fire Department has sent four ladder trucks to the scene, due to the limited road space and fierce fire, it is impossible to rescue all the trapped people from the window in a short time. Many trapped people shouted out of the window, waved towels and threw paper. And ask the firefighters present for help. One of the men waiting for rescue by the window was swallowed up by the fire and burned into coke because he was not rescued in time.
Many people trapped in tall buildings have taken various ways to escape. Four citizens fled to the top of the building, and finally the government flying service sent a Black Hawk helicopter to rescue them from the scene at the risk of fire and smoke. In addition, a female employee of Zhou Shengsheng Jewelry and Gold Store and a Secondary Four student of St. Joseph's English Middle School fell from the building and landed on the steel canopy of the building facing Pilijin Street, but miraculously survived. Some people tied their trousers into ropes and climbed to the roof of the adjacent Pearl Building to escape, while others ventured to jump on the lifting platform of the ladder truck and grabbed the metal bracket to escape.
More than 200 firefighters, 40 fire engines and 50 ambulances participated in the rescue operation. In addition, the Civil Aid Service, St. John's Ambulance, the mobile casualty treatment vehicle of the Fire Services Department and the medical staff of Queen Elizabeth Hospital were also called to the scene for reinforcements. Most of the injured were sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Guanghua Hospital.
casualties
The fire was put out at 1: 47 the next afternoon. Liao Chihong, the second-class fire chief stationed at Cheung Sha Wan Fire Station, accidentally fell into the elevator slot while searching for the missing person on the fifth floor of the fire, and died unfortunately. The deceased also included 22 employees working in the information department and accounting department of Zhou Shengsheng Jewelry and Gold Bank. It is alleged that the Ministry of Information of Zhou Shengsheng locked the door deeply for security reasons, making it difficult for it to escape. However, a company spokesman said on June 22nd 1996 165438 that the department and the accounting department had only one glass door on the floor of 15, and employees were able to break the glass door and escape. According to the simulated reorganization of the Discovery Channel program, it is considered that when employees are alert to the fire, the fire has spread and there is no way to escape. Some employees later opened the windows because they couldn't stand the heat and smoke, which caused a fatal flash.
Including Liao Chihong and 1 person who died several months after the fire, the incident * * * caused 4 1 person to die and 80 people were injured. This fire is one of the most serious fires in Hong Kong's modern history, and the casualties are second only to the dock fire that killed 1947 people [5].
One of the injured died a few months later, resulting in a total of 465,438+0 deaths and 80 injuries. See the news report of TVB at 6: 30 on May 22nd, 2007.
Forensic work
As the identity of the deceased was difficult to identify, the authorities first dispatched the Disaster Victim Identification Team (DIVIU) set up in 198 1, which is affiliated to the Criminal Investigation Institute of the Royal Hong Kong Police. Its main task is to determine the identity of the deceased, photograph and record the location of the body, and assist the fire department in investigating the cause of the fire. During the operation, all police officers wore white protective clothing, helmets, masks and red armbands.
Because many bodies were badly burnt, most of them were incomplete. Some of them have the shape of bones, but they will be shattered at the slightest touch, and some even turn to ashes. Forensic personnel can only rely on teeth, characteristics, DNA, personal documents and property as the main basis for identifying victims.
Post disaster investigation
After the disaster, the Fire Services Department and the Buildings Department set up four task forces to investigate the cause of the fire, the building structure and the escape route.
1996 12 17 The government appointed Judge Woo Kwok-hing as the chairman of the investigation committee of Kerry Building to investigate the cause and process of the fire, review the contingency measures of the authorities and put forward suggestions to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy. According to the report, the particularly dangerous environment caused by the elevator replacement project is the main cause of the disaster. However, Zhong Yi Department Store changed the fire escape on floors 1 to 3 into a warehouse and modified the sluice without authorization, which made the fire spread continuously and rapidly on the lower floors. Because there is no automatic sprinkler system in Kerry Building, the smoke door is closed, and the fire can't be controlled immediately. Workers and residents don't have a strong sense of fire prevention during elevator construction, and they don't immediately call the police to escape at the beginning of the fire. At the same time, the report criticized the inadequacy of fire protection facilities in many commercial buildings completed in the same period and put forward suggestions for improvement.
Event influence
The five-level fire in Kerry Building revealed that the fire protection standards of old commercial and residential buildings were outdated and the public's awareness of fire prevention was insufficient. The Fire Services Department then conducted a territory-wide building survey and found that only 28% of private buildings were rated as "satisfactory" in terms of fire service installations and building fire management. The findings of the Buildings Department are similar. The survey shows that 80% of multi-functional buildings have insufficient escape routes.
Relevant departments have stepped up enforcement actions, actively dismantled illegal structures on the rooftop, and asked building owners and residents to clean fire exits and close smoke doors themselves. In addition, in June, 1998 amended the Building Management Ordinance and the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance, and provided financial assistance to help owners improve the fire safety standards of their buildings, including the construction of sprinkler systems and other fire-fighting facilities. On June 1 of the same year, the Fire Services Department set up a fire safety ambassador program to promote community fire prevention publicity campaign.
In addition, in order to strengthen the ability to deal with major disasters, the fire department set up a special rescue team in April 20001.
Popular culture
After the fire, TVB filmed the TV series "Ambition of Fire", in which the fire scenes in episodes 39 to 40 of "Hongyun Building" were shown in the form of 1998 with reference to the five-level fire in Kerry Building.
reference data
* Discovery Channel (August 2006 12), Blue Represents Disaster-Hong Kong Hell.