Under-construction Galaxy tower catches fire, 6,000 workers evacuated

An under-construction building of the Galaxy Macau resort in Cotai caught fire in one of its attics yesterday. Over six thousand workers inside were evacuated.
The fire broke out before 11 am on the top floor of the tower, according to a worker at the nearby Light Rail Transit construction site.
“The fire was emitting thick black smoke for quite a while. When it was burning, we couldn’t see anyone on the building top from here,” said the worker, Mr Zhao.
About 6,000 construction workers and 150 subcontractors were inside the building at the time and were evacuated with the assistance of firefighters.
“All construction workers were safely evacuated with no injuries reported. GEG [Galaxy Entertainment Group] is working closely with the relevant parties for further investigation related to the fire,” stated the company afterwards.
The blaze was reportedly put out after five minutes while the fire tanker continued shooting water to reduce the heat. A signature golden decoration was completely damaged and part of the attic’s exterior wall was charred.
The building is part of the second phase of GEG’s expansion on the Cotai Strip.
About 40 firefighters were deployed to fight the blaze. “The manager of the construction site told us that there was welding work ongoing on the top floor; we think that the kindling was induced by the welding,” said Chan Kuok Tong, chief of the Fire Services Bureau’s Taipa branch, on scene.
“The major difficulty [in extinguishing the fire] was that we had to approach the fire scene step by step, as construction works were underway in many spots on this site and most parts of the path was obstructed for us to get through,” he added.
According to the local fire department’s initial investigation, a giant decoration mounted on the outer wall of the top floor of the building caught fire as workers were carrying out welding work nearby. “It was made of fibreglass. It emitted black smoke when it burst into flames. Burning debris broke off from the decoration and fell to ground level during the incident. It was extinguished by our colleagues on the ground,” the fire department’s spokesman said. The firemen say there was no damage to the interior of the building under construction.
The Times was at the scene and witnessed the fire brigade efforts to control the incident. Both the security manager who patrolled at the gate near the construction site and public relation staff on site were reluctant to talk about what had happened. “This is just a small fire; it’s normal in a construction site. It only took two minutes to put it out,” a security head told the Times.
“A fire like this is not a big deal in the mainland, but might not be a small one in Macau,” commented Mr Zhao, who has been working in construction for seven years, adding that all the construction workers must possess life and work injury insurances as stipulated by the Labor Affairs Bureau.
The GEG stock dropped by 1.2 percent at noon and went down by 1.6 percent at the market closing time yesterday, according to Hong Kong Economic Journal. “This incident will not affect the construction progress of Phase 2,” the gaming operator stated.
Construction workers were allowed to return to the site after 1pm. BY