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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Lau Wai-hing, Emily on Hau Tak Market fire incident in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
Question:
On March 29 this year, a fire broke out in Hau Tak Market, Tseung Kwan O, a market under The Link Management Limited (The Link). It has been more than one month since the incident, but the Market has not yet re-opened. Not only have affected tenants suffered from a sudden loss of their means of livelihood, but residents in the vicinity have also found it very inconvenient to shop. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) whether they will set up an independent committee to investigate the causes of the fire and identify the party/parties responsible for the incident; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether they have received any requests from affected tenants and their employees for emergency ex-gratia relief payments; if so, of the number of such cases and the details on how these cases have been handled;
(c) whether officers from the Fire Services Department (FSD) had carried out inspections at the Market during the year before the divestment, and after divestment, of the Market by the Housing Authority to The Link; if so, of the dates and details of such inspections; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) given that before the fire broke out, the single operator of the Market had notified FSD that the fire services sprinkler system of the Market had to be temporarily suspended for renovation works, whether FSD had issued guidelines to the operator or requested the operator to take measures during the period concerned to deal with unexpected incidents?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
(a) After putting out the fire, officers of the Fire Services Department (FSD) conducted a preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire at the scene immediately. As nothing suspicious or unusual was discovered, FSD has not set up any task force to investigate into the cause of the fire. However, the officer-in-charge of the incident has investigated into the cause of the fire in accordance with the usual procedures. Since the incident scene was seriously destroyed by the fire and there was no eyewitness during the fire that can provide information, there is insufficient evidence to ascertain the real cause of the fire. Therefore, the cause of the fire is classified as "unknown".
(b) In this fire incident, the families of some of the affected tenants and their employees are facing financial difficulties due to the temporary stoppage of business. Therefore, the Sai Kung District Office (SKDO) has allocated a one-off cash grant from the General Chinese Charities Fund to individual affected families with financial hardship to provide immediate relief. As at May 11, 2007, SKDO has received 200 applications, of which 128 cases, involving $300,000 in grant, have been approved. The remaining applications are being processed by SKDO. Besides, SKDO has referred the cases of 13 applicants to the Social Welfare Department for follow-up at their request.
(c) At present, FSD will not carry out special inspections because of change of ownership of property. Before and after the Housing Authority divested the Hau Tak Market in November 2005, FSD officers conducted inspections in shopping malls and markets of various public housing estates as usual. They inspected the fire service installations (FSIs) and equipment inlets, fire hydrants, fire services appliances emergency access, etc. so as to familiarise themselves with the environment of the concerned shopping malls and markets. During inspection, they would also ensure that there was no obstruction to the means of escape and non-compliance with the fire regulations in those buildings. According to the records of FSD, during the six months before the fire incident at Hau Tak Market (i.e. October 1, 2006 to March 29, 2007), FSD officers conducted 13 inspections at the Hau Tak Estate, Market and Shopping Centre. Detailed dates are as follows:
Date
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October 7, 2006
October 20, 2006
October 25, 2006
October 31, 2006
November 7, 2006
November 24, 2006
December 21, 2006
December 26, 2006
January 4, 2007
January 13, 2007
February 11, 2007
March 1, 2007
March 5, 2007
(d) Under the existing agreement between FSD and the Association of Registered FSI Contractors of Hong Kong, FSI contractors (including the contractors conducting the relevant works in the above-mentioned Market) are required to take the following measures to ensure fire safety when building FSIs are shut down for repair or maintenance:
* notify FSD of the repair works preferably seven days in advance;
* notify residents, occupiers and management companies of the works to be carried out and the relevant temporary measures to be taken beforehand;
* whenever possible, top up water tanks prior to the commencement of the repair or maintenance works;
* complete the repair or maintenance works as early as possible, so as to minimise disruption to the normal operation of FSIs;
* as far as practicable, conduct the repair works by phases and avoid shutting down the whole system for a prolonged period, so as to ensure that part of the building FSIs remains functional; and
* in case the whole system has to be shut down, provide stand-by equipment, such as fire extinguishers, at suitable locations, and inform FSD, residents, occupiers and management companies where appropriate.
Ends/Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:03
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