A judge-led independent committee probing the deadly Tai Po fire on Wednesday raised concerns over the authorities’ criteria for the division of labor in handling complaints regarding fire security hazards.

Four officials from the Fire Services Department (FSD) gave evidence at the committee’s 17th hearing: Michael Yung Kam-hung, assistant director overseeing fire safety of the department; Herman Hor, the department’s station commander of Tai Po Fire Station from Feburary 2024 to December 2024; Ng Wing-kwong, senior station officer of Tai Po Fire Station; and Fok Chun-ming, the department’s deputy chief fire officer in charge of corporate strategy.

SPECIAL PAGE: Tai Po fire inquiry hearings

Yung, whose division draws up fire safety policies, measures for buildings and mass transit systems, and standards for upgrading old buildings, was the first to testify.

Citing legal provisions, Yung explained that fire safety installations are divided into active and passive categories. Active systems — including fire alarm systems, automatic sprinklers, extinguishers and hose reel systems — fall under the FSD's purview, while passive installations — those embedded in a building's construction, like escape staircases, fire-retardant partitions and fire doors — generally fall under the monitoring of Buildings Department or Housing Bereau.

Yung added that he believes complaints about blocked escape stairs, scaffolding netting and polystyrene boards should be directed to the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau, while site smoking complaints should be overseen by the Labour Department.

Materials presented at the hearing showed that this approach to sorting complaints was the department's standard response before the Wang Fuk Court fire, which broke out on Nov 26 last year and claimed 168 lives.

"It seems that none of the fire risk concerns raised by residents fall within your purview?" asked Victor Dawes, leading counsel for the independent committee. "Yes, that's correct," Yung replied.

Yung said that when receiving complaints falling outside his department's purview, staff were expected to help refer the complaints to the appropriate authorities, but admitted previous performance in this area was "not ideal".

A voice recording played at the hearing showed that, in September 2024, after a Wang Chi House resident had complained that construction workers had used large amounts of polystyrene to seal windows during the renovation project, an FSD staff member said the department did not have specific regulatory measures for such incidents instead of referring the case to ICU. In other complaints, staff similarly advised residents to contact other authorities themselves.

Yung acknowledged that such approaches were improper. He said the department has now implemented a new mechanism, whereby staff will refer complaints to the relevant authorities with the callers’ consent, and will follow up on the matter to ensure the complaints are addressed.

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During his testimony, Yung repeatedly cited the "division of labor", saying that the handling of complaints should be based on departmental expertise, but the inquiry panel questioned whether clear standards exist for such a division.

Records showed that a complaint in July 2024 was lodged about workers smoking at the site, and the FSD replied that the matter was outside its purview.

Two days later, however, the Labour Department referred the complaint back, and said that such action disregarded the Fire Services Ordinance.

The independent committee said that this demonstrated that even some civil servants were unclear about the division of responsibilities, and asked if there was any written policy or guidance document, in "black-and-white", on this.

Yung said the understanding of staff was based largely on years of interdepartmental cooperation and experience, and was not formally documented. He agreed that the incident reflected poor communication between departments, and their interpretations of legal responsibilities were inconsistent.

Contact the writer at amberwu@chinadailyhk.com