Major Fire Accident in Hong Kong

On November 20, 1996, a five-alarm fire broke out in Garley Building on Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei. The building burned for about 20 hours before it was extinguished, causing a tragedy of 41 deaths and 80 injuries. It became the deadliest high-rise fire in Hong Kong's history, exposing the problem of outdated fire safety standards in old commercial buildings. ‼️

From the reports and documentaries on the fire in Garley Building, it is not difficult to see that the public's sense of crisis was too low, and the escape path was unclear.

For example, many people thought it was the usual smoke from lift maintenance at the beginning of the fire outbreak 🌫; they did not think it was urgent to escape from the fire because they were a few floors away from the fire 💭; they were too late to flee because they took their time to "go to the rooftop to have a smoke first.”

In addition, many survivors reported that the exit signages of the building were unclear, so they repeatedly walked in dangerous directions during the escape⚠️, delaying their precious golden escape time. Some people went in the opposite direction 🔄 because they did not know the location of the fire; some people were not familiar with the building and could not find the correct escape route even though they probably knew the location of the fire ⛔; even employees who were familiar with the building had misjudged the escape route 😵 💫 due to dense smoke and emergencies.

People trapped by the fire and smoke were forced to jump off the building to escape, and some were even engulfed by the flames near the windows of the building. This tragedy is a nightmare that many Hong Kong people still cannot forget.