Happy Valley Racecourse fire


The Happy Valley Racecourse fire took place on 26 February 1918 in the Happy Valley Racecourse located at Happy Valley, Hong Kong. The catastrophe caused the loss of 614 lives.

Background

The racecourse was first built in 1845 to provide horse racing for the British people in Hong Kong. The area was previously swampland, but the only flat ground suitable for horse racing on Hong Kong Island. To make way for the racecourse, the Hong Kong government prohibited rice growing by villages in the surrounding area. The first race ran in December 1846. Over the years, horse racing became more and more popular among Chinese residents.

The Fire

The annual "Derby Day" race was held every February. To accommodate the extra spectators a temporary grandstand was built. The fire was caused by the collapse of a temporary grandstand, on the second day of the event. The collapse knocked over food stalls which set bamboo matting ablaze. The district’s fire department was so stretched that the water police were called up to fight the fire. By the next day, as many as 576 confirmed deaths were reported by the Hong Kong Telegraph.

Aftermath

Most of the dead bodies became unrecognizable and assumed to be "Chinese". The nearby Tung Wah Hospital was one of the first to offer assistance and after the fire arranged for labourers to collect the dead bodies. They were buried in the nearby So Kon Po area. A Chinese-styled memorial site known as Race Course Fire Memorial was built in the Chinese cemetery in 1922 in So Kon Po. It was declared a monument in 2015.