Praised as heroes, stung by criticism: firefighters torn over Tai Po blaze report

AI Summary

Firefighters who battled the deadly Tai Po blaze describe the trauma of the incident and the difficulty of reaching the towers as falling bamboo scaffolding blocked an entrance. The report has since put the fire department under public scrutiny, leaving frontline firefighters caught between praise and criticism.

After spending 12 gruelling hours battling the Tai Po inferno, frontline firefighter Ah Fai* could not have imagined that, barely a year later, his department would find itself under the harsh glare of public scrutiny. The trauma of that night is still raw. He remembers burning debris from the bamboo scaffolding raining down from above, blocking one of the main entrances of Wang Fuk Court. “Our colleagues simply had no chance of getting in,” he said. Those who eventually breached the towers were...