A third alarm blaze swept through a recycling facility and two warehouses in Lau Fau Shan on Tuesday, sending two firefighters to hospital.

The fire raged for more than five hours before it was put out.

According to firefighters, the blaze broke out at the recycling site on Deep Bay Road at 1:09pm and spread to two nearby warehouses.

It was upgraded to No. 3 alarm about 10 minutes later.

Authorities put the blaze under control before 5pm, and said it was largely put out at 6:34pm.

In a media briefing, division officer from New Territories North, Simon Sze, said firefighters encountered difficulties in trying to put out the blaze.

"The fire reached a massive scale... The water source is located far away from the fire site. Firefighters had to use a 60-metre-long water pipe to connect the water source to the scene of the fire," he said.

"The presence of numerous abandoned electrical materials at the scene has increased the scale of the fire."

Two firefighters suffered facial burns from an explosion of LPG cylinders and were sent to hospital.

One of them has since been discharged while the other is in stable condition.

Authorities said 36 people were evacuated.

Officers used four jets and mobilised four breathing apparatus teams to fight the fire.
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Last updated: 2023-11-14 HKT 21:23