Hong Kong: In the early hours of Thursday morning, a resident from the nearby district of Fanling stood outside the blazing Tai Po housing complex, handing out bottles of water and tea to exhausted firefighters battling the massive inferno.
“These supplies were all donated by the Tai Po community, and I’m here to help distribute them,” said Mr. Ho, noting that the fire-stricken estate sits in a relatively isolated part of the district with few shops or amenities nearby. According to him, volunteers had been arriving steadily with drinks, snacks and basic necessities to support the frontline responders.
The 45-year-old, who rushed to the area around 4 p.m. on Wednesday as the fire intensified, said he has struggled to process the scale of what he witnessed. “It was horrific… something I couldn’t even imagine,” he said, describing scenes of chaos, choking smoke and residents fleeing in panic.
He added that firefighters seemed stretched thin as they attempted to contain flames jumping from block to block. “I don’t think they have a lot of resources, so we’re doing whatever we can to help,” he said.
Looking out at the scorched towers still smoldering hours later, Mr. Ho summed up the sentiment shared by many in the community: “It’s just so hard to believe this is happening. I think something like this has hardly ever occurred in Hong Kong’s history.”