【明報專訊】In an instant everywhere up and down the 16-story structure became hell. The Garley Building (嘉利大廈) fire, which happened 17 years ago yesterday, claimed 41 lives and was one of the worst disasters in this famously safe city.
1. The building
The Garley Building was completed in 1975, when the government had yet to introduce laws requiring sprinkler systems (灑水系統) to be installed in all commercial buildings. Its tenants (租戶) included China Arts & Crafts (中藝國貨), Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (香港教育工作者聯會), the recording company PolyGram HK (香港寶麗金) and Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Co Ltd.
2. The fire
The Garley Building was undergoing internal renovation for the installation of new elevators. Welding (燒焊) was being conducted, and the Owners' Corporation (業主立案法團) had put up a notice telling tenants that, owing to the process, there might be black smoke and an unpleasant smell.
The fire started at 4:47 pm on 20 November 1996, when a stray piece of hot metal fell from the 11th floor down an elevator shaft (升降機槽). Building materials and wooden boards on the 2nd floor were ignited. The fire quickly spread along the bamboo scaffolding (竹棚) to the 1st and 3rd floors.
The tragedy was compounded by the elevator shafts, where extremely hot air built up. Another fire started on the 13th floor by way of a chimney effect (煙囪效應).
3. Rescue efforts
Having received a report from the welders, firemen arrived at the scene at 4:52 pm. Initially they rated the blaze as a one-alarm fire (一級火). They eventually upgraded it to a five-alarm fire, the highest level in Hong Kong's fire classification system.
More than 200 firemen, 40 fire engines and 50 ambulances were deployed in the fight against the inferno. The firemen at one point dispatched a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter (UH-60黑鷹直升機) to help rescue people in distress. It managed to rescue four people who had fled to the rooftop. But the firemen discovered the rotating helicopter blades could fan the fire and decided to ground it.
The fire brought about some of the most heartrending scenes in living memory. People trapped inside tossed paper, waved towels and screamed their hearts out calling for rescue. A man was seen being engulfed in flames at a window.
There were lucky ones. A Chow Sang Sang employee climbed out of the window and jumped from the building. She fell onto a metallic awning (簷篷) and miraculously survived.
Overall 41 people, including a fireman, were killed in the fire, and 80 were injured. The fire was put out 20 hours after it had started.
4. The aftermath
Chris Patten (彭定康), then Hong Kong governor, visited the scene afterwards. He urged legislators to speed up the passage of a bill aimed at upgrading the fire safety standards of some 500 premises. The next year, amendments were made to the Building Management Ordinance (建築物管理條例) and the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance (消防安全(商業處所)條例). Under the new legislation, property owners may obtain financial assistance for improving their buildings' fire safety.
The Garley Building remained vacant for years after the tragedy. It was subsequently demolished and a new shopping mall was built on the site.
