Sessional_Paper_1949 — Page 11

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godown was through an iron door in Whitty Street, but there were also two doors into the scavenging lane at the rear, which were apparently not used, and two iron doors giving direct access to Des Voeux Road. There were a number of small windows on all sides, and some ventilating fanlights on the Des Voeux Road side.

20. The 36 tenement flats were of normal construction, each consisting of a single room with french windows opening on to a balcony in front and windows and a door leading to kitchens and lavatories behind. The majority of the flats were partitioned into individual cubicles. There were five staircases giving direct access to all floors except in the case of No. 367, the most westerly house, whose staircase went only to the first floor. Ingress to and egress from the floors above this could only be gained by going through the rear of the various floors of No. 365 and using the stair- case common to that house and No. 363. Such a system would not have been approved by the Building Authority if incorporated in the plans of a new building.. The stairs of all the houses stopped short at the fourth floor, and did not continue to an exit on the roof, which would be a necessary provision for approval of plans under the present Buildings Ordinance. There were fire escapes, that is to say steep iron ladders com- municating between the verandahs of each building, but these escapes did not extend to the street, the alternate mode of egress from the first floor being through the back yard on that floor and into the scavenging lane. The fire escape ladders were covered by small iron hatches which could be easily lifted or removed, provided of course that there was nothing piled on top of them. In the crowded and congested state of the buildings, such was unlikely to be the case, as tenants no doubt deliberately covered up the hatches as a precaution against thieving. When we visited the premises the majority of these hatches were closed.

21. At the rear of the tenements there was a yard on the first floor with a passage-way behind it, about 4 feet wide leading to a flight of steps which gave direct access to Whitty Street. Half way up the steps was a wooden door, the keys of which were kept in a box on the first floor of No. 359. The door was usually kept locked during the day, and was undoubtedly locked at the time of the fire. Entry to the scavenging lane between the tenements and godown No. 2 was through a grilled iron gate, also normally locked, set in an iron framework topped by outward and down- ward projecting spikes. The western end of the lane was bricked up. The lane itself was six feet in width.

22. Plans B and C provide elevations of the Buildings from the seafront and from Whitty Street. Plan D is a plan of the first floor of Nos. 351-367 Des Voeux Road West.

User of Premises:

23. The tenements are believed to have been occupied by some 400 persons, an average of rather more than 10 persons in each flat. Some of the inhabitants were members of the Wing On staff and their families, but by far the greater number were unconnected with the Wing On Company. The first floor flat of No. 359 was used as a sleeping place by about 18 of the unmarried members of the godown staff. Wong Tong, the head storekeeper lived in the third floor flat of No. 353. Other godown employees lived elsewhere in the tenements.

CHAPTER IV-THE OUTBREAK OF FIRE AND RESCUE OPERATIONS.

A Detailed Description of the Early Stages of the Fire:

24. We heard evidence from a number of eyewitnesses of the outbreak of the fire, and the time when the first sign of fire was noticed can be fixed accurately at five minutes past eight o'clock. It began by a small flame emerging from a ventilating fan-light in godown No. 5, just below the verandah of No. 363. This was followed in a very short time by a long tongue of orange-red flame and by a number of explosions, which though not very violent had sufficient force to blow out the grille across the fan-