Hong Kong fire’s ‘heat, flames main challenges for rescuers, not ladder limits’

Excessive heat and raging flames that engulfed a Tai Po estate in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest fires posed the biggest challenges for firefighters, experts have said, as they dismissed suggestions that height limitations of aerial ladders had added to the blaze’s severity. They were responding to widespread online speculation that the severity of the highest No 5 fire alarm blaze stemmed from limitations in the Fire Services Department’s ladder apparatus and a reluctance to ask for help from...