Source: Radio New Zealand
Residents check clothing donated for them after a major fire swept through several apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 27, 2025. AFP / Dale De la Rey
A New Zealander living in Hong Kong says the deadly apartment building fires have left him feeling he’s had a lucky escape.
The blaze that spread throughout a massive Tai Po housing complex ripped though bamboo scaffolding and mesh netting put up for renovations, [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/580234/hong-kong-s-deadliest-blaze-in-decades-kills-at-least-83-scores-missing
killing more than 80 people, with hundreds more still missing.
In Hong Kong, bamboo has long been the material of choice for scaffolding because it’s cheap, abundant and flexible.
Michael Rudman said he and his family live in a high rise that’s part of group of nine buildings which have recently been renovated.
“They were also clad in bamboo and the net scaffolds for about a year and a half, that was only taken off three or four months ago,” he said.
“When the bamboo’s up, you don’t really think about that, it’s only when a disaster happens you think … that could have been my building.”
People watch the still burning Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 27, 2025. AFP / Peter Parks
Rudman lives on Lantau Island, on the opposite side of Hong Kong.
“I was just relieved that my family was safe, but I really feel for those guys and everyone in Tai Po,” he said.
Rudman’s neighbours are renovating their property at present, and they have bamboo scaffolding up while the air conditioning is being replaced.
He understood the bamboo scaffolding industry was on its way out, and there would be a transition to metal, but he was not sure when.
During renovations it was normal for the entire building to be clad, he said.
“They basically block all the windows so you have to look through nets,” he said.
In March, the Hong Kong government announced half of all new public works contracts would use metal scaffolding, following the deaths of more than 20 bamboo scaffolders between 2019 and 2024.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
