A deadly fire in Shantou, Guangdong province, has claimed at least 12 lives, renewing concerns over the dangers posed by China’s self-built residential structures. The blaze, reported by Chinese media as the mainland’s most serious since last month’s catastrophic Hong Kong inferno, broke out around 9.20 pm local time and was brought under control within roughly 40 minutes, according to Xinhua.
The fire engulfed about 150 square metres of a four-storey reinforced concrete building in the Chaonan district, an area known for manufacturing and dense residential clusters. The ground floor had been converted into a shop selling household appliances and electrical goods—a common practice in the region where families often run businesses from their homes. A woman told local reporters that she had lost both parents, her grandmother, and her younger brother in the tragedy, an emotional reminder of the recurring risks associated with unregulated residential setups. Officials confirmed that the building was self-built, a category frequently criticised for inadequate fire standards, narrow staircases, barred windows, and insufficient emergency exits. Faulty or improvised electrical systems have long been documented as a major hazard in such structures.
In response, Guangdong authorities have assembled a multi-agency task force involving police, emergency management bodies, and disciplinary inspectors to investigate the cause of the fire and examine potential safety breaches. The urgency of these efforts has been heightened by the proximity of the Shantou tragedy to Hong Kong’s devastating Tai Po blaze last month, the deadliest in decades. That inferno burned for nearly 43 hours, killed 160 people, destroyed seven high-rise buildings, and displaced almost 5,000 residents.
Following the Hong Kong disaster, Beijing launched a nationwide fire-safety campaign targeting hazardous high-rise and mixed-use buildings. The State Council’s Work Safety Committee directed local administrations to identify structural weaknesses, remove flammable materials, fix malfunctioning fire safety systems, and improve everyday management of residential spaces. Cities across China have since intensified enforcement. Beijing began a months-long campaign aimed at curbing indoor smoking and unsafe storage of electric bikes, while Tianjin’s Binhai district—scarred by the 2015 chemical plant explosion that killed 173 people—called on officials to draw lessons from the Hong Kong tragedy and reinforce oversight of construction practices and fire-safety protocols.
