Seeing that they were facing a hopeless task, officers in charge summoned assistance and nearly every fire engine south of the creek attended. Flames, some 40 feet high, caused windows of houses surrounding the village to crack, whilst the staff quarters of the China South Sea Bank, which are situated in a modern building in the Vu Yuen Road Lane, were also threatened although with the exception of cracked window glass and burned canvas awnings no damage was reported from there.
Not until three hours after the first engine had arrived, was the fire under complete control although firemen were still standing by at 8 p.m. to avoid debris from citching fire. All buildings in the village, on a tract estimated to consist of 1 square yards, were razed to ground, whilst many domestic animals, in particular pigs, were found lying dead amongst the heaps of ashes.
The work of the fire brigade was made more difficult by the fact that the inhabitants of the burning houses did not want to leave without saving as much as possible of their property. It was therefore necessary forcibly to evict 11 persons who were made to cross the wall on the north side of the village, where ladders had been placed for that purpose. Although it has not been possible to inspect the debris in search for further victims, the corpses of four children have so far been found. Changing winds and the easy ignition of the huts made the work of the various brigades very difficult whilst the fact that most of the alleys in the village were hardly wider than 3 feet considerably handicapped them
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.