"Fires, such as Australian bushfires have been at the forefront of disaster research. Much as one wants a hook on such a vast disaster, in fact disasters of this scale affect every aspect of the human condition. However responses are able to be classified according to time, place, age, and aspects of the human condition:

Immediately after the fires, people experience:

• Emotions of shock and disbelief, numbness, fear, helplessness, longing, guilt, shame, sadness anger, frustration, felling let down, as well as euphoria for having survived and hope that the future will return the past.
• Physical responses include, difficulties breathing, choking, chest pains, palpitations, shortness of breath, nausea, many different pains, dragging of the womb.
• Social responses initially include rescue and help to the degree of altruism and total trust and reliance on helpers. This may turn to anger and guilt for insufficient or wrong help. Blame is sought, sometimes individuals. groups,  or organisations are scapegoated.
• PTSD Any of these responses can be relived or suppressed alongside remembering or blocking out of the disaster.

Special groups that need help are the injured, the bereaved, children and the elderly, the evacuated and isolated, and the firefighters and rescuers.

Warnings 

• Accidents and illnesses are more common after disasters.
• Drive more carefully.
• Continue medical treatment.
• Watch coffee, alcohol, drug intake.

Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t bottle up feelings.
• Share your experiences.
• Let children express themselves.
• Give yourself time to think, talk, feel, as well as rest, take time out.

Recovery can be long and fraught.

Journalists can be secondary victims, and may well need debriefs and help. They often lose interest after the acute phase."

"The fires in Hong Kong this morning (27th Nov 2025) have taken place in closely spaced apartment buildings that have been undergoing extensive renovations. Early vision and news reports have shown that bamboo scaffolding, polystyrene hoardings, and other plastic containment sheeting has been used in the renovations. All of these items are highly flammable and once ignited would (and appear to in news coverage) release burning fragments of bamboo and other material that would account for the rapid spread of the fire.

The reported closeness and height of the high-rise structures would also have led to the speed and ferocity of what could be described as a fire-storm. In this situation, the rising heat draws fresh, oxygen-rich air into burning regions to intensify the temperature of the fire and allow less flammable materials, such as bamboo or other cladding material to ignite.

Regular, sheet or expanded polystyrene is highly combustible and above 230 degrees Celsius, can warp, melt and ignite, whereupon it releases the volatile chemical “styrene” (normally a carbon-rich liquid), which in turn would burn to give off carbonaceous smoke, and poisonous carbon monoxide gas – a major hazard for occupants and fire fighters.

For these reasons, fire retardant plastics and other materials are normally recommended for use in building sites to reduce the risks of fire and obvious danger.

The original source of the fires in the Hong Kong situation is not currently known. Apart from any intentional arson activity, or common, unattended heating and cooking appliances, building tools such as welding torches, and sparks from cutting and grinding machinery would be capable of providing adequate heat, enhanced by inappropriate storage of combustible cooking oils and fuels.

Tragically, Hong Kong has seen these preventable incidents before, and many more lives appear to have been lost again on this occasion. This is a constant reminder to ensure appropriate fire safety measures are adhered to at all times."

"The fire in Tai Po district, Hong Kong, appears to involve several different combustible materials, leading to rapid fire spread across the facade and into the buildings.

If we look internationally, there have been multiple fires on building facades in the last decade, some leading to loss of life, such as the UK’s Grenfell tower fire in 2017. In this example, combustible elements such as external cladding, insulation and architectural features have been determined to contribute to the fire.

Several years ago in Sydney, there were three fires which involved scaffolding encapsulation. Although these fires did not lead to any loss of life, they were the trigger for publishing the Australian standard AS 1576.

The safe use of encapsulation on scaffolding is covered in part 7 of the standard and provides industry guidance on acceptable performance criteria for the flammability of scaffold encapsulation, and its safe use. This standard limits the fire spread in these materials.

The fire spread at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex is likely due to a combination of factors, including the plastic scaffolding encapsulation, plastic sheeting, polystyrene, the bamboo structural scaffolding and any other flammable components. Since the situation is still unfolding, it’s impossible to say with certainty — however it is likely that the combination may have exacerbated the hazard, including the unexpected involvement of multiple towers."

"Having lived in Hong Kong for half a decade, I know first-hand how unique a city it is. It has one of the highest population densities in the world, and the biggest number of buildings over 150m of any city in the world to accommodate that population. The most typical residential buildings in Hong Kong are high rise, and given the severe lack of buildable land, most of them are clustered tightly together. To achieve this, Hong Kong boasts a strict and onerous regulatory environment, which the community has a lot of trust in. One of the most important objectives for the building standards is to limit flame spread beyond its point of origin.

While determining the source of ignition is going to be an important part of the investigation for the interest of the public, it is largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of this disaster. What matters most here is that the fire was able to spread beyond the spot and building where it started.

Many factors could have contributed to this, including the scaffolding, which may have provided a 'highway' for the fire to travel vertically, and a warm nest for embers from adjacent structures to ignite. All of this, however, will be the subject of the highest level of scrutiny by the authorities, the fire services, and the international fire safety community."

“While the situation in Hong Kong is still unfolding, what we are seeing is a tragic reminder of how vulnerable high-rise buildings can be during renovation. External scaffolding, temporary coverings and the presence of highly combustible materials can dramatically accelerate fire spread, especially in densely populated towers. In any high-rise environment, safe evacuation becomes extremely difficult once a fire breaches multiple floors.

Events like this highlight the importance of strict oversight of construction materials, fire-resistant scaffolding systems, and maintenance of fire-safety pathways. Although Australia has different building systems and regulations, the principle is the same everywhere: when buildings age and undergo renovation, managing fire risk becomes particularly critical. This tragedy reminds us of the need for rigorous safety standards, proper inspection regimes, and strong enforcement to prevent similar disasters.”

“From a structural engineering standpoint, the bamboo scaffold acted as a continuous external fuel path. Dry culms have high surface-area-to-mass ratios and, when wrapped with plastic mesh, create a ventilated ‘chimney’ that supports rapid flame spread and radiant pre-heating of the next bay. The lattice continuity, closely spaced ledgers, and lashings provided uninterrupted heat bridges across floors and corners; once windows failed, the exterior fire coupled with interior contents, accelerating the event. This isn’t a craftsmanship issue but a materials-and-configuration problem: a combustible, porous frame placed against an occupied high-rise with few intentional breaks.

Prevention is straightforward in principle: eliminate the fuel or break the path. For occupied towers, mandate non-combustible temporary works (steel/aluminium) or, where bamboo is unavoidable, require pressure-impregnated fire-retardant culms, Class-A flame-retardant netting, and engineered discontinuities, vertical and horizontal fire-stops every few bays and at each floor line. Keep minimum clearances from openings; seal facade gaps at work stages; remove or fold netting during hot works; and provide temporary standpipes or water-mist lines on the scaffold with trained fire watches. Finally, require a stamped temporary-works design that treats the scaffold as a facade system subject to fire performance, not just gravity and wind. The science is simple: control fuel, ventilation, and continuity, and the risk collapses.”

"It’s time for change - to remove outdated practices and adopt modern methods of fire safety and protection. Bamboo scaffolding is highly flammable, and strict building regulations should be imposed to ban its use.

The fire spread from burning bamboo scaffolding is no different from the spread caused by the burning cladding of the Grenfell Tower in the UK in 2017. The situation is further exacerbated by the close proximity of buildings in Hong Kong, where wind-assisted flames can quickly engulf surrounding structures once a fire starts in a single building.

Mitigating this fire risk is feasible, as metal scaffolding has long been used in many countries and could readily be adopted. By eliminating the use of bamboo scaffolding, the risk of extensive building damage and human fatalities could be dramatically reduced."

"Obviously, this is a very significant incident, with several high-rise residential buildings on fire simultaneously. Whatever the root cause of the fire, there are reports of polystyrene over some of the windows as well as bamboo scaffolding and netting, which would have provided a direct route for fire spread on and around the buildings and contributed to building-to-building fire spread, significantly exacerbating the consequences.

There would have been many difficulties managing the incident, including challenges for the firefighters tackling the fire and carrying out any search and rescue activities, as well as difficulties for the occupants trying to evacuate. The fact that the fire spread to multiple floors and across multiple buildings at the same time will make all of this much worse. Given the intensity of the fires, there’s likely to be a significant amount of damage to the structure.

The overall human cost of this will be significant. It will take some time, maybe even years, before the full impact becomes clear. The incident highlights the fire safety risks of dense urban environments, including potential resourcing constraints on rescue services, information availability, challenges with managing incidents and evacuation of residents in high rise buildings."

"The cause of this fire is still unknown, but both negligence and deliberate ignition are factors which could be considered.  While our understanding of who sets deliberate fires and why is still developing, it is clear from the research that many motivations underpin this behaviour. For example, people report setting fires for excitement, boredom, anger or revenge, as part of antisocial or criminal activity, to send a powerful message to others, or as a coping mechanism if things are not going well in their lives.

People who set fires may present with a range of vulnerabilities including attitudes that support antisocial behaviour and/or fire setting, problems with communication and relationships, increased impulsivity, and difficulties with emotional regulation and expression. Some people who set fires may also have an interest in fire or fire paraphernalia (such as the fire service), whereas others have developed specific beliefs about how and when fire should be used (e.g. to destroy evidence, to cope with a difficult situation) which can influence their decision to set a fire in a particular circumstance.

While some people set fires to cause physical, emotional, or financial harm, not everyone who starts a deliberate fire intends to hurt others or cause significant damage. Fire is incredibly unpredictable and even if someone intends to light a small fire this can get out of control very quickly, creating a significant risk of harm to both those involved in setting the fire, emergency responders, and the wider community.

While we have made significant knowledge gains in the past 15 years, we still know relatively little about how to effectively prevent deliberate fire setting. This is because we know little about people’s pathways into fire setting, why some people repeatedly set fires, or why some people start setting fires in childhood and continue to do this into adulthood, while others desist.

If we are to meaningfully prevent deliberately set fires, we need to invest in research which can help identify when and where we can effectively intervene to reduce this harmful behaviour.”