Tragic Huafeng Building Fire: Owner Exposes Lack of Support, Subdivided House Owners Cry for Help

2024-04-15 14:48:19

A three-alarm fire broke out in the Wah Fung Building in Yau Ma Tei last Wednesday (10th), killing five and injuring 40. A reporter from “Ji Zhi She” returned to the disaster site today (15th) to see directly. The site was in ruins, full of odor, and covered with sewage. The reporter searched for the location of the fire on the first floor. Opposite the fire source was a “1-4” subdivision unit rented to refugees. The door of the unit was charred and pitch black, and the air conditioner was also melted.

“A Ming…” Indonesian tenant Sa Sa returned to the unit today, with tears in her eyes, calling the kitten’s name through the window, looking forward to the kitten’s return. She recalled that she was sleeping when the fire broke out. The kitten kept scratching at the door to wake her up and saved her life. However, the kitten disappeared in the fire. “It’s a good thing there is a cat. If it weren’t for us, we would all die.” Ms. Chen, the owner of a subdivided house, held on to the scorched iron gate and lamented that repairing the unit might cost NT$300,000. She complained that the government and the care team had no support. “The care team has to say they care about you.”

Reporters: Liao Junsheng, He Peihu

Huafeng Fire｜The owner of the disaster exposed scolded the care team for being “in control” and the subdivided house owners cried for help for their beloved cat

A fatal three-alarm fire broke out in the Huafeng Building. The light well on the first floor was suspected to be the source of the fire. The reporter walked into the disaster site today and walked along the stairs to visit each floor. The first to third floors were the most severely burned, with a strong burnt smell. There was sewage on the ground, the walls were gray and black, and a large amount of garbage was left behind. On the first floor where the fire broke out, the ceiling of the corridor was covered with wires and illuminated by temporary light tubes; the walls were almost completely black, and the words “Karaoke” on the walls were also burned to gray black. The door of the Jinli Fitness Center is locked with an iron chain. Looking from the outside, the ceiling inside is also blackened.

The door of the unit was burned and only the steel frame was left

For the 1D unit in Ching Kwong Ting, which operates subdivided rooms, the unit has four rooms. Each room is estimated to be less than 100 square feet and can only accommodate a bed and cabinet. The tenants place their belongings in the corridor outside the room door. The door of the unit has been burned to its steel frame, and the electric meter and air conditioner in the unit have also been burned to the point of deformation. The large mirror next to the corridor of the unit has also been burned into a stainless steel plate, and a decorator is tearing off the wallpaper that has been smoked black. The fire spread to various rooms. The air conditioners in the rooms melted, and there were charred suitcases and burnt wires on the cabinets.

In the subdivided unit on the first floor, the air conditioner was scorched, bent, and melted.

Kitten scratches door, wakes up owner, saves life

In one of the rooms, a poster of a kitten was hung on the door. This kitten saved four families from the fire. The Indonesian tenant Sa Sa who lives in this room has been renting the 1D subdivision three years ago. Early last Wednesday morning, Sa Sa was sleeping in her room, and the kitten “A Ming” kept scratching the door and making noises that woke her up. As soon as she opened the door, she saw a raging fire at the door of her unit and a large amount of thick smoke entering the house from the direction of the light well.

The fire gradually spread to the unit. She immediately woke up the isolation room, but she could no longer leave through the door. So she tried to pick up A Ming, ran to the room facing the street inside the house, and called for help from the window. At this time, A Ming struggled, scratched her leg, and ran to nowhere. In desperation, she could only continue to escape, and was finally rescued through the window. “There was a lot of smoke and fire, and I was lucky to have a window.”

Indonesian tenant Sa Sa held a flashlight and cried in the room looking for her beloved cat.

“Luckily there’s a cat”

“It’s a good thing that I have a cat. If not, we will all die…” This afternoon, Sa Sa returned to the room, holding a flashlight, with tears in her eyes, and kept shouting to the window in the dark room: “A Ming… A Ming…” The landlord told her that the kitten might be dead, but she still insisted on looking for the cat, believing that the kitten was fine and just ran away from the window.

Ms. Chen, the owner of unit 1D, returned to the unit with reporters this afternoon. She said that she had purchased the unit for about ten years and had operated a hotel and subdivided rooms in the unit. Last week, she replaced the electric meter and air conditioner in the unit, and she even burst into tears. Describing the unit as “horrible, I want to scream when I talk about it, no one knows where to start.” It is estimated that repairs will cost at least NT$300,000.

The subdivided house on the first floor was completely burned. The owner, Ms. Chen, criticized the government for not providing post-disaster financial support.

“I am not cared for by them”

The unit was completely burned to the ground, and Ms. Chen directly criticized the government for failing to provide support. The Yau Tsim Mong Home Affairs Department earlier stated that it would mobilize nearly 200 volunteers in the district to provide support and visits. Ms. Chen criticized, “The care team has to say that they care about you. I have not been cared for by them. So they “What’s so important about care?” She added that in order to facilitate the cleaning of the unit, she had asked the care team to pull out the power lines for her, but the other party told her to “find someone to do it by herself.” According to what was seen at the scene, some members of the care team also set up tents downstairs in Huafeng Building for residents to register for financial support. When asked if she had registered for relevant support, Ms. Chen responded, “After registering, you have to wait for approval. I don’t know how long it will take,” and asked, “If you are willing to help, why don’t you send it to us directly?”

Ms. Chen, the person in charge of Wanyuan Hotel, said that she called the owner eight times after the disaster, but no one answered.

Ms. Chen, the person in charge of the Wanyuan Hotel located next to her in Room C on the first floor, said that she had rented the unit to operate the hotel for about two years and believed that the owner was responsible for paying for the maintenance expenses. However, she has not been able to contact the other party since the fire, as she had eight times yesterday. Although no one answered the call to the owner, he criticized, “You collect the rent on time every month. There may be trouble. I can just call and ask if there is anything going on.” Wanyuan Hotel has five rooms for rent. Ms. Chen revealed that there were only two tenants staying on the day of the fire, and the unit had been completely blackened by the fire, and most of the windows were broken. She lamented that she might not be able to afford the renovation costs. I may not continue to rent this unit to operate a hotel in the future. “Everything needs to be renovated, so I estimate how long it will take and how much it will cost.”