Polyfoam use left unchecked amid gap in supervision, Tai Po fire probe hears Fire service official Michael Yung says responsibility for flagged hazards lies with Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit and Labour Department.

the netting was NOT the root cause, a netting fire, like Chinachem building in central, could be extinguished

The difference was combustible foam boards, with higher mass, creating a hotter, more intense blaze, and broke every fire compartment #FireSafety

www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...

"A quick reminder from Wikipedia that Five-Year Plans originated in the USSR in the 1920s and assume a centralized, state-controlled system… By definition, it is a top-down process."

Exactly.

I'm guessing that the public consultation is another example of GovHK exploiting the 1C2S card. 1/2

HK tractor-production to boom Hong Kong CE John Lee says the government will issue a ‘public consultation’ document on the city’s first ‘Five-Year Plan’ by the end of June… “We have referred to the...

HK tractor-production to boom

Hong Kong CE John Lee says the government will issue a ‘public consultation’ document on the city’s first ‘Five-Year Plan’ by the end of June… “We have referred to...

HÅG Capisco 8106 - Leather

Fencing queen Vivian Kong, who gets to claim HK$370,000 in office & IT expenses as a LegCo councillor, has purchased a HÅG Capisco ergonomic chair for $14,500, four 13” MacBook Airs for $38,000, and a Canon (PowerShot V1?) camera for over $6,000, according to declaration records

EMSD only managed 2 water samples during the first two weeks of April 2026, one of which contained reportable Legionella count #legionella

During the winter, December 2025, EMSD sampled 114 cooling towers for Legionella;

In the first two weeks on April 2026, they sampled 2 and one had a Legionella Count of 1,400 cfu/ml. #legionella

Hong Kong watchdog monitoring potential merger of city’s top 2 supermarket chains Jardine Matheson and CK Hutchison reportedly in talks for Wellcome-ParknShop megadeal amid decline in citywide supermarket sales.

"The [Competition Commission] is aware of the relevant media reports and is paying close attention to the matter and any future developments."
• Both DFI Retail Group (Wellcome) and AS Watson (ParknShop) said it wouldn't comment on speculation

www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...

HK conglomerates in talks over ParknShop-Wellcome merger: report Two of Hong Kong’s biggest conglomerates are in talks over a possible merger of ParknShop and Wellcome, the city’s two largest supermarket chains, according to the Financial Times (FT).

Turning a duopoly into a monopoly.

(GovHK photo) The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, speaks at the InnoEX Opening Ceremony cum Luncheon today (April 14)

Opening Ceremony Cum

lol, actually that explains a lot: was wondering why the NHS is so fcuked up

impossible? It happened, so it is possible, just like UK's Grenfell tower, and many others towers internationally #firesafety

They should have used the version attributed to Einstein:

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Confusing, for the Winter 2025/26, EMSD took Legionella water samples in about 114 cooling towers during December, but in January 2026, they roughly halved the number, only taking water samples from 54 cooling towers? #legionella

it sounds like GovHK sees this as a way out of the bureaucratic nightmare of prosecuting thousands of ppl at once, which has jammed up the court system.

Still, it's in character for Tang to say "If you let us brainwash you, we won't jail you, though maybe we will anyway."*

*Paraphrased

Finnish health and food safety agencies have issued a warning about the growing risk of legionella infections linked to potting soil, after cases of soil-related pneumonia reached record levels last year. The number of legionella pneumonia cases in Finland surged from around 50 to over 80 in 2025,…

After 2 hospitalizations for Legionnaires’ disease, Lancaster city woman still has questions When Carol Long couldn’t reach her sister, Susan Emswiler, after calling her several times on Dec. 17, she knew something was wrong. Missy Meshey, Long’s daughter and a registered nurse, drove to Emswiler’s home where she found Emswiler, 72, in bed and unable to move. Meshey called 911. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Emswiler, 72, of Lancaster city, said. “I was totally out of it.” Once admitted to Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center, doctors diagnosed Emswiler with legionella pneumonia, or Legionnaires’ disease. The diagnosis placed Emswiler among the 26 cases of Legionnaires’ disease reported in Lancaster County in 2025, a year when 454 cases were reported statewide. Far from being a rare occurrence relegated to history books, there have already been five cases in Lancaster County and 37 cases in the state this year. Locally, the City of Lancaster Bureau of Water confirmed March 25 the state is investigating an unspecified number of recent cases at Lancaster General Hospital and Lancaster Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Emswiler contacted LNP | LancasterOnline to share her story after reading an article about the recent local cases. Legionnaires’ disease, caused by the Legionella bacteria, is a severe type of pneumonia transmitted when a person inhales the bacteria through water vapor. The disease is not acquired person-to-person. The bacteria are found naturally in soil and water, but people are rarely infected outdoors, according to the Mayo Clinic. Instead, most people contract the illness when bacteria grows and spreads in water systems. People can get Legionnaires’ disease at home, but most outbreaks have been in large buildings, including hotels, hospitals and nursing homes. Many people exposed to legionella do not become sick. Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, headaches, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, nausea and confusion. Emswiler doesn’t know where she contracted the Legionella bacteria. She and her husband John Emswiler had been staying away from their home for portions of November and December due to a carbon monoxide problem that workers struggled to remedy. “We were out of our house in a second, as soon as that alarm (carbon monoxide detector) went off,” she said. “And then it was freezing, so we couldn’t stay here (at home) because I couldn’t turn the heat back on. They (workers) thought they fixed it, and then the alarm would go off.” Regardless of where she contracted the disease, it continues to be a disruption in her life. It left her barely able to function at times and she is still working to regain her strength. ‘She was so weak’ Doctors discharged Susan Emswiler from Lancaster Medical Center on Dec. 21, but she was very weak. She was happy to be home for Christmas, but she lives in an old house with a steep staircase and was mostly confined to the upstairs. On Dec. 26, Long, of Lancaster city, heard from her granddaughter that Susan Emswiler had called and was saying strange things. Long called 911 and immediately went over to Emswiler’s house. “She was so weak and was just hallucinating. And she was saying that there were ants crawling all over her floor …. She was saying I was stealing her cat,” Long recalled. This time, the ambulance transported Susan Emswiler to Lancaster General Hospital. Emswiler thought she was having a stroke because she was so confused. “You know, one of those crazy people when you’re in the ER that’s screaming and shouting, that would be me. I mean, I just had no idea where I was, why I was there,” Susan Emswiler said. “I don’t know how many friends I must have called saying, ‘you’ve got to get me out of here.’” Long contacted her siblings to let them know how sick their sister was. “I called all my brothers and sisters because I thought she was dying,” Long said. “It was really bad. I thought for sure that was it (death).” ‘It’s not like I just sit around’ While many people can be exposed to the Legionella bacteria and not get sick, those at greater risk to Legionnaires’ disease are people over age 50, smokers and those with a weakened immune system. Susan Emswiler has diabetes, but it is under control, she said. Prior to getting sick, she worked out twice a week at a gym and was an active retiree, cooking for her family and friends, shopping, eating out at restaurants and traveling. As a retired state employee, she also serves as president of the local chapter of her retirees’ union. “I’m gone all the time,” she said. “It’s not like I just sit around.” After she received the right antibiotics, Susan Emswiler recovered and has been healthy since January. She is still in physical therapy to strengthen her legs and regain her balance, but she expects to be discharged this month. However, her questions about the disease and how she contracted it linger. “I was shocked, because you haven’t heard anything about it in forever,” she said. “If you ask someone that’s much younger, not even much younger - maybe 40 (years old) – they’ll say, what is that?”

Lancaster County is seeing an increase in Legionnaires’ disease cases, prompting a state investigation at local healthcare facilities. One resident experienced two hospitalizations & ongoing recovery after contracting the pneumonia from Legionella bacteria.

unlikely bacteria would die outside, exposure to UV

#energyuse

So far, some have accepted that others will live with the respiratory endangerment of inadequate architecture and living conditions. We should consider this subject as a matter of self defense.

Fire involving a car breaks out at Orchard Towers A car fire broke out at Orchard Towers in Singapore, with firefighters extinguishing the blaze and no injuries reported. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

EV fire in car park of Orchard Towers, Singapore
www.straitstimes.com/singapore/fi...

SCMP Editorial Editorial | Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law is clear

scmp’s editorial board feeling the need to publish this same editorial every month for the past five years might be undermining its central thesis a bit

chicken shit Americans scared of trump

Podcast One: Trash Talk - Dr Goman Ho - Arup

'Dr' Goman Ho, from Arup, recommends we change from concrete to timber buildings 😂😂😂😂 #hongkong

podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/item...

Rebuilding fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court ‘not practical’, Hong Kong officials say Authorities plan to repurpose Tai Po site for community use, citing decade-long delays and HK$6 billion in acquisition costs before rebuilding.

• Rebuilding Wang Fuk Court for residential use “not very practical”
• The logistics make reconstruction into residences again difficult, as it would take at least 9 years
• The site is expected to be repurposed as community facilities

www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...

EMSD took a total of 925 water samples from Hong Kong cooling towers in 2025, strange that the highest number of samples (114) was actually record during winter (December) as shown in the chart #legionella #coolingtowers #hvac #hongkong

swiss officials confess the bar wasn't inspected for 5 years #firesafety #swissfire

2025 - There were a Record Breaking 🥇🏆 167 cases of Legionnaires' Disease in 2025, the highest number since records began
#legionella #legionnairesdisease #hongkong

Hong Kong vs Singapore 2025 final #legionella tally
t.co/YHFwdWvRNB

A record breaking - 165 Legionnaires' Disease cases in Hong Kong, beating the 2024 record #legionella #legoinnairesdisease #hongkong