1959 - burning building at 513 Queen's Road West

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1960 - burning building on Queen's Road West

This highly dramatic image, which shows a person in mid-flight whilst jumping from a burning building on Queen’s Road West, is titled “Fire Brigade in Action”, and appears in Hong Kong: Report for the year 1960, Hong Kong Government Press 1961.

The accompanying text reads: Fire is an ever-present hazard in Hong Kong. This picture was taken when a five-story tenement building caught fire in Queen’s Road West. Occupants were rescued by means of jumping sheets and turntable ladders. The fire was brought under control in 25 minutes.

Hopefully there will be a colleague in the Gwulo Community who will recognize the signage and tell us where on Queen’s Road West this scene is set. 

UPDATE: Thanks to “cwyip911”’s submission in the Comments section below, it is now evident that the fire was located at 513 Queen’s Road West, and that it broke out on Nov 2, 1959.

Date picture taken
2 Nov 1959
Tags
fire fighting

Comments

Thank you “cwyip911” for your impressive and rewarding detective work. I can’t imagine how you were able to work out what that very blurred first character in the sign was; and then to go on to use that information to identify the location of the image, as well as the precise date on which it was captured, was pure genius! Now, thanks to your input, I will correct my original labelling accordingly.