Hong Kong Movies: You Hongxingzi, what the hell is the charity king?

Chapter 808 "807" The Century Fire at the Carrie Building, Mr. Guan Saves the Day!
"Yo yo yo~~~"

"I didn't expect Hao-ge to eat so well~~~"

Inside the black Chevrolet
Guan Zu held up a photo of Song Zihao's newly widowed wife, examining it closely while chuckling strangely.

Ah Xing, Ding Hu, and Liang Xiaorou: "…………"

Then... Ding Hu also took a look.

quickly,

They arrived at the ATV Broadcasting Building.

20 minutes later,
A meeting was officially held at ATV headquarters to discuss the future development direction of ATV.

meeting room,
Wen Huixin: "Boss, our news programs, drama programs... all programs have accounted for 70% of the ratings for two consecutive years... The only weakness at present is international news, which has a lower proportion than TVB... Should we increase the proportion of international news?"

Kwan Cho shook his head: "Leave international news to TVB. What we need to do is 'root ourselves in Hong Kong, with a view to both sides of the strait.' There are still 230 days until the handover. Let's just set up a 'Handover Special Team' and start launching the '230 Days to Handover' series of reports next week..."

"Of course, the local news from Hong Kong Island is even more important."

"Remember, we are the premier television station, and more importantly, a cultural icon of Hong Kong. We want viewers to see their own lives and stories that belong to Hong Kong Island on ATV."

The meeting ended at 16 PM.

Ring ring ring~~~
“Ah Zu, are you free? Come over for tea…” Boss B called.

Guan Zu was surprised. Big Boss B had never called Guan Zu before, unless Guan Zu took the initiative to call.

What is this for?
"Okay, where's Brother B?"

“Nathan Road, there’s a nice tea restaurant here called Seven Friends Tea Restaurant.”

Guan Zu glanced at his watch; it was only 16:10 PM. Wasn't that a bit early?

"Okay, I'll be right there."

……

……

Nathan Road, Mong Kok
Seven Friends Tea Restaurant.

Big Brother B said to Chan Ho-nam and Tai Tin, "A-Zu has agreed to come. If you have any ideas later, just tell him directly... Don't beat around the bush, A-Zu's time is precious."

Chan Ho-nam nodded quickly: "Understood, Brother B."

Why are Chan Ho-nam and Tai Tin-yi looking for Kwan Cho now?
It's all because they want to move up in the ranks.

They are now part of the Hung Hing branch in Tsz Wan Shan.

But now the triads are outdated, and even gangsters have to run food delivery services.

As Chan Ho-nam watched Chicken's status rise higher and higher while his group remained stagnant, a sense of resentment inevitably arose in his heart.

Moreover, as they get older, they get married and prepare to have children.

They want to earn a future for their children, not set an example for them: that their parents are gangsters.

Therefore, Chan Ho-nam and Tai Tin-yi asked Boss B to ask Kwan Cho to give them a chance.

then,

Big Brother B took the initiative to call Guan Zu.

Fortunately, Guan Zu gave him face.

After all, Kwan Cho was busy with the livelihood of Hong Kong Island, which made Boss B feel embarrassed.

16:20,

A black Chevrolet pulled up in front of the Qiyou Tea Restaurant.

When Big Boss B, Chan Ho-nam, Tai Tin Yee, and Kau Pi saw this, they quickly went over to greet them.

Guan Zu got off the bus.

"Azu"

"Brother Zu!" *3
Guan Zu glanced at Chen Haonan and Da Tianyi, and nodded with a smile.

“Anan, Tian Er, it’s been a long time…and you…Jiao Pi…”

Jiao Pi trembled with excitement.

Guan Zu waved his hand: "Let's go in..."

Ah Xing drove to park the car before returning.

Inside the tea restaurant, Guan Zu and his companions found a private room and ordered some afternoon tea snacks. Upon hearing this, the owner came over and offered to give Guan Zu a free meal, but Guan Zu refused.

After three rounds of tea,

Chan Ho-nam finally revealed his purpose: "Brother Zu, we want to get rich, can you give us a way?"

Guan Zu: "Do you want to work for me, or do you want to start your own business?"

Chan Ho-nam said, "Of course I want to work with Brother Cho."

Guan Zu took a sip of tea and looked at Chen Haonan: "If you want to work for me, the requirements are very high; have you been studying these past few years?"

Chen Haonan and Da Tian blushed and said, "No."

Both of them were poor students.

And what about pheasants?

He's been wearing glasses lately, looks very refined, reads books every day, and even goes to university to take economics and management classes.

To be honest, Chan Ho-nam and Tai Tin-yi were a little envious of Chicken. Who wouldn't want to be a top student?

Guan Zu sighed, “If you don’t study, you will always suffer in many things… There is no place for you here in Hong Kong, but you can go to South Korea or the United States. I also have companies there, especially in South Korea, where there is a lack of trustworthy people.”

Upon hearing this, Chan Ho-nam and Tai Tin-yi immediately raised their teacups.

"Thank you for your guidance, Brother Zu!"

"We're willing to go to South Korea!"

Serve tea!

……

At the same time, across the street from Qiyou Tea Restaurant,
Carrie Building.

Elevator maintenance work is underway on the second floor of the elevator shaft inside the building.

Elevator repairman A-Qiang squatted beside the scaffolding, welding elevator tracks, sparks flying with the sizzling sound of the welding torch.

Piles of corrugated cardboard and sawdust lay at my feet—these were piled up when the elevator car was cleaned this morning and hadn't been moved yet.

This elevator repair has been going on for more than a month and involves three elevators, but currently only elevator number 1 is being repaired.

"Brother Qiang, this bolt is completely rusted!"

Apprentice Amin was tightening a wrench by the shaft. In the dark elevator shaft, bamboo scaffolding stretched from the second floor all the way to the 15th floor.

Some of the metal shavings from Ah-Qiang's welding torch bounced off the bamboo pole and rolled toward the pile of cardboard in the corner.

And without either of them noticing

A hot iron block, glowing red-hot from a welding torch, fell into a pile of corrugated cardboard.

then……

The corrugated cardboard started to catch fire.

At this time, it is 16:45.
The two smelled a burnt odor.

Amin suddenly looked up: "Brother Qiang, what's that smell?"

Ah Qiang looked down and saw that blue smoke was rising from the edge of the cardboard, and sparks were seeping into the cracks in the paper.

"Oh no, there's a fire!"

"Get the fire extinguisher!"

The two were shocked.

However, the repairs have been going on for more than a month, and the fire extinguishers that were originally placed nearby have been moved because they were inconvenient to use.

Soon, with a whoosh, the dry cardboard and sawdust suddenly burst into flames, which burned higher and higher, and then climbed up the bamboo scaffolding.

"Come on!"

"Go get the fire extinguisher!"

"Quick, get some water!"

The two hurriedly ran out of the elevator shaft.

At this time,
The "chimney effect" has occurred.

What is the chimney effect?

Similar to a rural stove, the chimney draws fire and smoke to the top.

(Illustration: The principle of the chimney effect)
As the chimney effect intensifies, large amounts of oxygen are drawn in from the building's ground floor, entering the elevator shaft and traveling all the way to the top 15 floors...

Flames shot upwards through the cracks, the bamboo strips of the scaffolding crackled, and in the blink of an eye, the flames reached two meters high.

At this time,
The whole building smelled of burning and saw white smoke.

However, since the elevator shaft in this building has been under construction for a month, the shop staff throughout the building often smell welding fumes and so on, so they have become accustomed to it.

And what about smoke detectors?
Because smoke frequently appears in the elevator shaft during repairs, the smoke detector was covered with plastic film by the staff.

1 minutes later,
Flames broke through the barriers of the elevator area and invaded the second-floor shops. Originally, there were fire doors between the elevators and the shops, but the craft shop had later replaced them with glass doors. Without the fire doors to block the flames, the fire surged into the craft shop like a flood bursting its banks. Paper, fabrics, and wooden ornaments on the shelves burst into flames one after another, and the entire floor was instantly engulfed in flames.

Thick smoke billowed out...

At that moment, the first fire alarm call was made.

"Hello, emergency center... There's a fire at the Jiali Building..."

Upstairs, many people could smell the smoke, but given the recent elevator maintenance work, everyone initially thought it was just a minor problem.

……

Across the street, there's the Seven Friends Tea Restaurant.

Guan Zu and Boss B were eating snacks and drinking tea.

at this time……

A commotion arose outside the private room.

"Look!"

"What's going on over there? Such a huge cloud of smoke!"

"Fire!"

Guan Zu, Boss B, and the others exchanged glances.

Guan Zu quickly opened the window and, sure enough, saw smoke billowing from the second floor of the building across the street.

Big Brother B exclaimed, "Is it a fire?"

Just then, Guan Zu suddenly heard a voice coming from the next private room: "Hey, fire department... call the police! There's smoke coming out of the Jiali Building, it's on fire."

Guan Zu was stunned for a moment.

and many more!

Carrie Building?

Guan Zu asked Boss B, "Is that building across the street called the Jiali Building?"

Big Boss B: "That's right, Carrie Building."

Guan Zu's expression changed.

The Garley House fire was the worst in Hong Kong Island's history.

Level 5 fire!
More than 40 people died and more than 80 were injured.

at this time,

"Beep beep beep~~~~~"

The fire truck has arrived.

A large number of firefighters quickly arrived at the scene; it was the Kowloon Fire Brigade.

There were a total of 4 fire trucks, 1 ambulance, and 22 firefighters.

Commander He Guowei led his men up to the second floor. After taking a quick look, his expression changed when he saw the fire on the second floor.

"Calling the command center..."

"Fire breaks out in Garley House, Nathan Road, Mong Kok. Level 2 fire alarm! Repeat, Level 2 fire alarm!!"

"Please immediately dispatch nearby fire brigades for support!"

Despite their large number of people and vehicles, they can only handle a level one fire alarm at most.

Upon receiving the call, the command center immediately dispatched two nearby fire brigades without hesitation.

Commander He Guowei only saw the fire in the craft shop on the second floor, but he did not see that the elevator shaft was already engulfed in flames. With the chimney effect, the flames shot straight up to the 15th floor.

At this point, the fire began to spread on the 15th floor and then down to the 14th and 13th floors.

And at this moment,
Guan Zu had already rushed out of the tea restaurant and run onto the road.

He knew all too well how terrible the damage to the Carrie Building was. Besides the chimney effect of the elevator shaft, there was also the lack of attention from the employees of the shops in the Carrie Building... which ultimately led to a huge disaster on floors 1-3 and 13-15.

In particular, the staff on the top 15 floors were almost entirely burned alive.

It took 21 hours to extinguish the fire.

Guan Zu rushed to the fire truck, panting heavily from running so fast.

"Mr. Guan!"

"Why are you here?"

The firefighters were quickly pulling their equipment when they saw Guan Zu and paused for a moment.

Guan Zu ran to the command vehicle and asked the fire commander, "Has the alarm center reported this? What level of fire is it?"

Fire commander: "Mr. Guan, our captain has assessed it as Level 2?"

Guan Zu: "Level 2? Not enough! Level 5!"

Fire commander: "Huh?"

At this moment, the firefighters felt that Mr. Guan was being a bit unreasonable. Have you been to the scene? Do you know anything about fire safety?
Although he respected Guan Zu, he trusted the captain's experience more when it came to fires.

At this moment,
Commander He Guowei, who was inside the building, called over.

"Something's not right... I've reached the 8th floor, and smoke is coming down from upstairs. I need to adjust my level!"

"Level 3 fire alarm!"

"Attention, it's a level 3 fire alarm!"

Because of the thick smoke, He Guowei had no idea what was happening upstairs.

Why was there a fire on the 2nd and 3rd floors, but nothing happened on the 4th to 7th floors, and smoke was coming down from the upper floors?
"A level three fire alarm?"

The firefighters' expressions changed as they approached the fire truck.

A level 3 fire alarm is a super fire that requires 15-20 fire trucks and more than 100 firefighters to be dispatched!

And what about Guan Zu?

Anxious.

The smoke coming down from the 8th floor indicates that the fire on the 15th floor has already started and spread.

He immediately dialed the fire department.

connected.

"Hello... 999 emergency call center..."

“I am Kwan Cho, Chairman of the Five Star Group and Chairman of the Legislative Council.”

The operator on the other end of the phone: "Ah? Mr. Guan?"

Kwan Cho spoke very quickly: "I'm right downstairs in the Ka Lee Building right now. The fire alarm is definitely not just level three, it's level five."

Operator: "Huh?"

Before the exclamation even landed,

Kwan Cho's voice was solemn and serious: "Listen! As the Chairman of the Legislative Council, I am now giving you an order: immediately activate the highest level of response, a level 5 fire alarm!"

"All procedures will be upgraded immediately, and I will take full responsibility!"

There was a commotion on the other end of the phone, but soon another voice came through: "Chairman Guan, this is Lin Zhenmin, the deputy director of the Fire Services Department. The director is in a meeting abroad, and I am currently in command of the Fire Services Department."

Kwan Cho's tone was heavy: "Director Lam, I was on the scene of the fire at the Ka Lee Building. I can determine that it was a level 5 fire, which is extremely critical! For the safety of citizens, I am willing to take responsibility in my capacity as the Legislative Council Chairman! I demand that you immediately order an upgrade to the level and respond according to the procedures for a level 5 fire!"

Lin Zhenmin, on the other end of the phone, remained silent for a moment.

One last grit of teeth!

Since Mr. Guan dared to take responsibility for the safety of citizens,

How could I possibly back down?!

"Understood, Chairman Guan!"

Lin Zhenmin declared firmly, "I will give the order immediately!"

quickly,

With his command, the four fire service regions—Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories North, and New Territories South—received the order.

Faced with a level-five fire alarm, the manpower and equipment of only one general district are insufficient to meet the rescue needs.

Therefore, cooperation from more departments is needed.

In addition, the Fire Services Department quickly requested support from multiple departments, including the Government Flying Service, the Auxiliary Medical Service, and the Social Welfare Department.

For a time,

The whole of Hong Kong was in an uproar.

Fire services, medical services, aviation, welfare services, and other departments were quickly mobilized!

Guan Zu stood downstairs at the Jiali Building, watching flames erupting from the second floor and thick smoke billowing from the 15th floor.

"I hope in this life..."

"There's enough time!"

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P.S.: Posted on time. It's the end of the month, so please vote with your monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)