A Hong Kong bamboo scaffolder has described how a team of about 30 workers spent 3 months removing damaged scaffold from 7 blocks at Wang Fuk Court after the deadly Tai Po fire.
Yip Hon-ying, founder of Lok Sum Scaffolding Limited, told Hong Kong publication Zolima that his company took on the dismantling work after other firms declined the job.
Yip said he initially turned the work down twice because of the risks to his team. He agreed after a Housing Department official approached him for a third time and said no other company was prepared to take it on.
The team included Yip’s former teachers, senior scaffolders and younger workers. According to his account, the group added bracing to sections of the fire-damaged scaffold to reduce the risk of collapse, worked with officials on the dismantling sequence and used drones to inspect areas before workers moved in.
The operation took about 3 months and was completed without anyone being injured, Yip said.
Yip, 41, began learning bamboo scaffolding at 15 and founded Lok Sum Scaffolding at 24. The company specialises in truss-out bamboo scaffold for repair work and is listed by Hong Kong’s Occupational Safety and Health Council among its recognised truss-out scaffolding enterprises.
The Wang Fuk Court fire on 26 November 2025 killed 168 people and damaged 7 of the estate’s 8 residential towers.
The disaster has brought intense scrutiny to the temporary materials used during the estate’s renovation. Hong Kong authorities have said investigations identified non-compliant protective netting, combustible foam boards and other fire-safety failures. An independent committee continues to examine the circumstances of the fire and its spread.
Yip’s account gives a rare view of the work that followed the emergency response, when fire-damaged temporary structures still had to be stabilised and dismantled safely.
