The Fire Services Department on Monday said it has conducted more than 8,200 inspections at around 1,000 old buildings across Hong Kong, following a blaze at a residential block in Jordan in April that left five people dead. The department said it issued more than 8,500 Fire Hazard Abatement Notices during the operation, and over 90 percent of these notices were complied with. It said most of the buildings checked were in Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po, Eastern District, and Central and Western District. Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer Wong Yuk-ping said the department will set up a special duty team to look at improvements for high-risk buildings. "Our goal is to reduce and ideally eliminate fire hazards. This is our ultimate objective," he told a press conference. "For the work of our special duty team, we will consolidate our data and put high-risk older composite buildings on our inspection list. We will target these high-risk buildings and ensure a risk-based approach." The department said safety issues it found in the various buildings included smoke doors being left open or broken, and escape routes being blocked. It said it carried out more than 350 prosecutions over buildings failing to comply with abatement notices.
