Chapter 815: 807 The Century Fire at Garley Building, Mr. Guan Turns the Tide

"Yo, yo, yo~~~"

"Didn't expect Brother Ho to be eating quite well~~~"

In the black Chevrolet,

Guan Zu held the photo of Song Zihao's young widow, examining it while clicking his tongue and chuckling strangely.

Zhou Xingxing, Ding Hu, Liang Xiaorou: "............"

Then... Ding Hu also took it over to look.

Soon,

They arrived at the ATV Broadcast Building.

20 minutes later,

The meeting regarding the future development direction of ATV officially convened at the ATV headquarters.

In the conference room,

Wen Huixin: "Boss, our news programs, TV dramas... all programs have occupied 70% of the viewership for two consecutive years... The only current weakness is international news; the proportion is not as high as TVB's... Should we increase the proportion of international news?"

Guan Zu shook his head: "Leave international news to TVB. What we need to do is 'root ourselves in Hong Kong and look toward both sides of the strait.' There are 230 days left until the handover, so let's just establish a 'Handover Special Group' and launch the 'Countdown to 230 Days' series of reports starting next week..."

"Of course, what's more important is the local news of Hong Kong Island."

"Remember, we are the number one television station, and even more so, the cultural calling card of Hong Kong. We must let the audience see their own lives and the stories belonging to Hong Kong Island itself on ATV."

It was already 16:00 when the meeting finished.

Ring, ring, ring~~~

"A-Zu, are you free? Come have some tea..." Tai Lo B called.

Guan Zu was surprised; Tai Lo B had never called him before, unless Guan Zu initiated the call.

What is this about?

"Sure, Brother B, where?"

"Nathan Road. There's a decent tea restaurant here called Seven Friends Tea Restaurant."

Guan Zu checked his watch; it was only 16:10. Wasn't it a bit early?

"Alright, I'll be over in a bit."

Mong Kok, Nathan Road

Seven Friends Tea Restaurant.

Tai Lo B said to Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er: "A-Zu agreed to come. Whatever thoughts you have later, just tell him directly... Don't beat around the bush; A-Zu's time is precious."

Chen Haonan nodded quickly: "Understood, Brother B."

Why were Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er looking for Guan Zu now?

It was all because they wanted to move up in the world.

Although they were currently part of the Hung Hing branch in Csz Wan Shan,

the triad had already gone out of style, and even the street thugs had to run around delivering takeout.

Seeing Chicken's status getting higher and higher while his own group remained stagnant, Chen Haonan ultimately felt unwilling.

Moreover, as they grew older, getting married and preparing to have children,

they wanted to earn a future for their children, rather than setting an example that their parents were just street thugs.

Therefore, Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er begged Tai Lo B, hoping Guan Zu would give them a chance.

Thus,

Tai Lo B took the initiative to call Guan Zu.

Fortunately, Guan Zu gave him face.

After all, Guan Zu was busy with the livelihoods of Hong Kong Island, which made Tai Lo B feel embarrassed.

16:20,

A black Chevrolet stopped at the entrance of Seven Friends Tea Restaurant.

Tai Lo B, Chen Haonan, Da Tian Er, and Jiao Pi saw it and hurried over to welcome him.

Guan Zu got out of the car.

"A-Zu."

"Brother Zu!" *3

Guan Zu glanced at Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er, smiling and nodding.

"A-Nan, Tian Er, long time no see... and you... Jiao Pi..."

Jiao Pi trembled with excitement.

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

Zhou Xingxing drove the car to park it, then returned.

Inside the tea restaurant, Guan Zu and the others found a private booth and ordered some afternoon tea snacks. The owner heard the news and came over, wanting to waive the bill for Guan Zu, but was refused.

After three rounds of tea,

Chen Haonan finally brought up his intention: "Brother Zu, we want to get rich. Can you give us a path?"

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

Chen Haonan said: "Naturally, I want to work for Brother Zu."

Guan Zu took a sip of tea and looked at Chen Haonan: "The requirements for working for me are very high. Have you been studying these past few years?"

Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er blushed: "No."

Both of them were poor students.

And Chicken?

He had recently started wearing glasses, looking refined, reading books every day, and even going to university to take economics and management classes.

Honestly, Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er were a bit 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 on Hong Kong Island, but you can go to South Korea or the United States. I have companies there too, especially in South Korea, where I lack trusted people of my own."

Upon hearing this, Chen Haonan and Da Tian Er quickly raised their tea cups.

"Thank you for your guidance, Brother Zu!"

"We are willing to go to South Korea!"

Toasting with tea!

At the same time, across the road from Seven Friends Tea Restaurant,

Garley Building.

On the second floor of the elevator shaft, elevator maintenance work was underway.

Elevator maintenance worker A-Qiang was squatting by the scaffolding, welding the elevator rails. Sparks flew with the sizzling sound of the welding torch.

Piled at his feet were corrugated cardboard and sawdust that had been dismantled—this had been piled up while cleaning the elevator car in the morning and hadn't been moved away yet.

This elevator maintenance had been going on for over a month, involving three elevators, and they were currently only repairing Elevator No. 1.

"Brother Qiang, this bolt is rusted shut!"

Apprentice A-Ming was turning a wrench by the shaft. In the pitch-black elevator shaft, bamboo scaffolding ran from the second floor all the way to the 15th-floor rooftop.

Metal debris sprayed from A-Qiang's welding torch bounced onto the bamboo poles and rolled toward the pile of cardboard in the corner.

And just when neither of them noticed,

a piece of iron, turned red-hot by the welding torch, fell into the pile of corrugated cardboard.

Then...

The corrugated cardboard started to catch fire.

At this time, the time was 16:45.

The two smelled a burnt odor.

A-Ming looked up abruptly: "Brother Qiang, what's that smell?"

A-Qiang looked down—the edges of the cardboard were already emitting blue smoke, and sparks were drilling into the gaps of the paper.

"Oh no, it's on fire!"

"Quick, get the fire extinguisher!"

Both were shocked.

But this maintenance had been going on for over a month, and the fire extinguisher that had originally been placed nearby had been moved away because it was inconvenient.

Soon, with a "Whoosh-boom~~~" sound, the dry cardboard and sawdust suddenly burst into flames. The flames burned higher and higher, then climbed onto the bamboo scaffolding.

"Run!"

"Go get the fire extinguisher!"

"Quick, get water!"

The two ran out of the elevator shaft in a panic.

And at this time,

the "chimney effect" occurred.

What is the chimney effect?

Similar to the kind of stove in rural areas, a chimney can suck fire and smoke to the top.

(Image: Principle of the Chimney Effect)

As the chimney effect intensified, a large amount of oxygen was sucked in from the bottom floor of the building, entered the elevator shaft, and went straight to the 15th-floor rooftop...

The flames shot upward along the gaps, the bamboo strips of the scaffolding crackled, and in the blink of an eye, the flames burned two meters high.

And at this time,

the whole building had actually smelled the burnt odor and seen the white smoke.

But because elevator shaft repairs had started a month ago, the staff of the shops in the whole building could often smell welding and smoke, so they were already accustomed to it.

And the smoke alarm?

Because smoke often appeared during elevator shaft repairs, the smoke alarms had been wrapped in plastic film by the staff.

1 minute later,

the tongues of fire broke through the enclosure of the elevator area and invaded the second-floor shop area.

Originally, there was a fire door between the elevator and the shops, but it had been modified into a glass door by the craft shop later. Without the fire door to block it, the fire wave surged into the craft shop like a breached flood. The paper, fabric, and wooden ornaments on the shelves burst into flames one after another, and the entire floor was instantly engulfed in firelight.

Thick smoke emerged...

At this time, the first fire alarm call was dialed out.

"Hello, alarm center... there's a big fire here at Garley Building..."

And upstairs, many people had smelled the smoke, but given the recent elevator maintenance work, everyone initially thought it was just a minor problem.

Across the road, Seven Friends Tea Restaurant,

Guan Zu, Tai Lo B, and others were eating snacks and drinking tea.

Just at this moment...

A commotion came from outside the booth.

"Look!"

"What's going on across the street? Why is there so much smoke?"

"Fire~~~"

Guan Zu, Tai Lo B, and the others looked at each other.

Guan Zu quickly opened the window and sure enough, saw that the building across the road was emitting smoke from the second floor, and a lot of it.

Tai Lo B exclaimed: "Is it a fire?"

At this time, Guan Zu suddenly heard a voice from the next booth: "Hello, fire department... report the alarm, Garley Building has thick smoke, it's a fire."

Guan Zu was stunned for a moment.

Wait!

Garley Building?

Guan Zu asked Tai Lo B: "Is this building across the street called Garley Building?"

Tai Lo B: "That's right, Garley Building."

Guan Zu's expression changed.

Garley Building, the most tragic fire in the history of Hong Kong Island.

A Level 5 fire!

More than 40 people died, and more than 80 were injured.

Just at this time,

"Bee-bo, bee-bo~~~~~"

The fire trucks arrived.

A large number of firefighters rushed to the scene; it was the Kowloon Fire Brigade.

There were 4 fire trucks, one ambulance, and 22 firefighters in total.

Commander He Guowei led his men to rush to the second floor, took a rough look, and after seeing the fire situation on the second floor, his expression changed.

"Calling command center..."

"A fire has broken out at Garley Building on Nathan Road, Mong Kok. Level 2 fire! Repeat, Level 2 fire!!"

"Please quickly dispatch surrounding fire brigades for support!"

Don't look at the fact that they had many people and many vehicles; they could only handle a Level 1 fire at most.

The command center, upon receiving the call, didn't say a word and quickly dispatched 2 surrounding fire brigades.

And Commander He Guowei at this time only saw the fire in the craft shop on the second floor, but did not see that the elevator shaft side had already burst into flames. With the eruption of the chimney effect, the flames shot straight to the 15th floor.

At this time, the fire began to spread on the 15th floor and spread downward to the 14th and 13th floors.

And just at this time,

Guan Zu had already rushed out of the tea restaurant and run to the road.

He knew how terrifying the losses of this Garley Building fire were. In addition to the chimney effect of the elevator shaft, there was also the lack of attention from the employees of those shops in Garley Building... which ultimately led to a huge disaster on the 1st-3rd floors and the 13th-15th floors.

Especially the staff on the 15th-floor rooftop; almost the entire floor was burned alive.

And the fire took 21 hours to extinguish.

Guan Zu rushed to the fire truck side, having run too urgently, and took a few heavy breaths.

"Mr. Guan!"

"Why are you here?"

The firefighters were quickly pulling equipment and were stunned after seeing Guan Zu.

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

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

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

Fire commander: "Ah?"

The firefighter at this moment felt that Mr. Guan was being a bit 'unreasonable.' Have you been to the scene? Do you have firefighting knowledge?

Although he respected Guan Zu, when it came to fires, he trusted his captain's experience more.

At this time,

Commander He Guowei inside the building called over.

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

"Level 3 fire!"

"Attention, it's a Level 3 fire!"

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

Why was there fire on the 2nd and 3rd floors, nothing happened on the 4th-7th floors, but smoke was coming down from upstairs?

"Level 3 fire?"

On the fire truck side, the firefighters' expressions changed.

A Level 3 fire meant a super fire that required the mobilization of 15-20 fire trucks and over 100 firefighters!

And Guan Zu?

He was anxious.

Smoke coming down from the 8th floor meant that the 15th floor had already caught fire and spread.

He quickly dialed the fire alarm number.

Connected.

"Hello... 999 alarm center..."

"I am Guan Zu, Chairman of the Five Star Group and Chairman of the Legislative Council."

The operator on the other side: "Ah? Mr. Guan?"

Guan Zu spoke extremely fast: "I am currently downstairs at Garley Building. The fire is definitely more than Level 3; it is Level 5."

Operator: "Ah?"

The exclamation hadn't even landed,

Guan Zu's voice was full of solemnity and seriousness: "Listen! In my capacity as Chairman of the Legislative Council, I am now giving you an order: immediately, right now, initiate the highest response according to a Level 5 fire!"

"All procedures are upgraded immediately, I will bear all responsibility!"

There was chaos on the other side, and soon another voice appeared on the other end of the phone: "Chairman Guan, I am Lin Zhenmin, Deputy Director of the Fire Services Department. The Director is abroad attending a meeting, and I am currently in command of the Fire Services Department."

Guan Zu's tone was as heavy as a thousand pounds: "Director Lin, the Garley Building fire, I am at the scene, and I can determine it is a Level 5 fire, extremely critical! For the sake of the citizens' lives, I am willing to bear this responsibility in my capacity as Chairman of the Legislative Council! I demand you, order it immediately! Upgrade the level and respond according to Level 5 fire procedures!"

Lin Zhenmin on the other side of the phone was silent for a moment.

Finally, he gritted his teeth!

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

how could he shrink back?!

"Understood! Chairman Guan!"

Lin Zhenmin said sonorously: "I will order it immediately!"

Soon,

Following his order, the four fire regions of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories North, and New Territories South received the order one after another.

Facing a Level 5 fire, the manpower and equipment of a single region were insufficient to meet the rescue needs.

Therefore, cooperation from more departments was 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,

all of Hong Kong exploded.

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

Guan Zu stood downstairs at Garley Building, watching the tongues of fire already spitting out from the 2nd floor, and the 15th floor already billowing with thick smoke.

"I hope in this lifetime..."

"it's not too late!"

? co

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PS: Published on time. End of the month, asking for monthly tickets for the end of the month~~~

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 816 =====