Marco Polo condo fire

Marco Polo condo fire (Marco Polo condo fire) broke out at around 2:17 p.m. local time on 14 July 2017 in a 36-story condominium-type apartment building in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Four people died and 13 were injured. The building, a luxury apartment completed in 1971 on the Waikiki beachfront, reportedly had no fire-prevention equipment such as sprinklers. Compared with the 2013 Dehui poultry processing plant fire and the Grenfell Tower fire, it also lacked space for evacuation, and in addition to blocking residents' escape from the outside, its corridors were concentrated in certain areas, leaving no passage for evacuation. A large-scale disaster similar to the Incheon Sail Electronics fire also occurred, and the fire is reported to have amplified complacency toward safety among U.S. authorities. Furthermore, because there was only one passage, people reportedly wandered as if lost in a maze trying to find the exit, as reported by AP and ABC.¹

Cause of the accident

According to ABC, the fire broke out on the 26th floor of the Marco Polo Residence apartment in Honolulu and spread to other floors. The deaths were reportedly concentrated mainly on the 26th floor, and the fire spread across three floors up to the 28th floor, where it was reported to be burning. During the fire, hundreds of residents reportedly evacuated all at once, causing a commotion. The fire has been reported as a large-scale fire reminiscent of the 2010 Shanghai apartment fire and the Daeyeongak Hotel fire. However, the apartment is located on the outskirts of the Waikiki beachfront area, with 568 households living there, and units reportedly sell at an average price of more than US$560,000 per household, making it one of Hawaii's affluent residential areas. Nevertheless, the cause of the fire has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, when the Grenfell Tower fire, the background of this incident, was reported to have caused 80 deaths, residents' concerns about the safety of high-rise apartments grew in the wake of this fire.