A deadly fire that tore through several high-rise apartment towers in Hong Kong was still burning into the early morning on Thursday, 10 hours after it started. The fire killed at least 36 people and left 279 missing, said Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee.

一场致命的大火席卷了香港数栋高层公寓，截至周四凌晨，火势仍在蔓延，距离起火已过去10个小时。香港特首李家超表示，这场火灾已造成至少36人死亡，另有279人失踪。

The officials said 29 people were hospitalized, with seven in critical condition.

官员称有29人被送医，其中七人情况危急。

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain the inferno, which apparently started in one building in the Tai Po district around 2:50 p.m. local time.

火灾原因尚未查明。数百名消防员奋力扑救。火势似乎始于当地时间下午2点50分左右，起火处位于大埔区的一栋建筑物内。

The flames spread across multiple high-rise towers and sent smoke billowing across the city’s northern New Territories.

火势蔓延至多栋高层建筑，浓烟笼罩了香港北部的新界地区。

The towers are in a dense complex known as Wang Fuk Court that includes about 2,000 apartments. Built in the early 1980s, they were sheathed at the time of the blaze in bamboo scaffolding, which is widely used in Hong Kong to construct and repair buildings.

这些高楼位于一个名为“宏福苑”的密集住宅区，这里约有2000个住宅单位。这些高楼建于20世纪80年代初，火灾发生时外墙包覆着竹制脚手架，这种脚手架在香港被广泛用于建筑物的建造和维修。

A government spokeswoman had said earlier that three of the first five injured people treated at hospitals were in critical condition, according to a report from the city’s hospital authority.

据香港医院管理局的报告，一位政府发言人早些时候表示，最先送往医院的五名伤者中，有三人情况危殆。

The authorities raised their most severe fire alarm for the first time in nearly two decades.

当局启动了近20年来首次最高级别火警警报。

Officials with the police and fire services said they had received numerous calls for help from residents trapped inside the buildings. Herman Yiu Kwan-ho, a former district councilor in Tai Po, said that he was in touch with a group of local residents, some of whom live in one of the buildings that caught fire. “More than 10 residents said their family members are still at their homes,” he said by phone.

警方和消防部门官员表示，他们接到了大量被困居民的求助电话。大埔区前区议员姚钧豪表示，他已与一些当地居民取得联系，其中一些人就住在着火的楼宇中。“超过10名居民说，他们的家人仍在家中，”他在电话中说。

The Hong Kong Fire Services Department said that it had sent 760 rescuers to the site. John Lee, the city’s chief executive, said that he was activating the city’s Emergency Accident Monitoring and Support Center.

香港消防处表示，已派遣760名救援人员到现场。特首李家超表示，他已启动全市紧急事故监察与支援中心。

Here’s what else to know:

以下是其他值得关注的情况：

• Bamboo scaffolding: Bamboo scaffolding is often used for renovations to older buildings in Hong Kong, which typically have many senior residents. The Hong Kong government announced plans last spring to begin phasing out the use of bamboo in scaffolding in favor of steel, which it said posed less of a fire risk. In October, the fire department attributed the rapid spread of a fire at an office building in Hong Kong’s central business district, which injured four people, to scaffolding around the building. The authorities have not publicly said that the scaffolding contributed to the Tai Po fire.

• 竹制脚手架：竹制脚手架常用于香港老旧建筑的翻新工程，这些建筑内通常居住着许多老人。香港政府于春天宣布计划逐步淘汰竹制脚手架，改用钢制脚手架，理由是后者的火灾风险更低。今年10月，消防处将中环商业区一栋办公楼大火的迅速蔓延（造成四人受伤）归咎于大楼外部的脚手架。当局尚未公开表示竹制脚手架是否助长了大埔火灾的蔓延。

• Rescue effort: Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of the fire service department, told reporters at the news briefing that the rescue effort was hindered by falling debris and scaffolding as well as high temperatures inside the buildings, making it difficult to access units where residents might be trapped. The ladders of two fire trucks appeared to reach only about halfway up the sides of the 32-story towers, and the tallest flames were far higher than where the water was being sprayed.

• 救援行动：消防处副处长陈庆勇在新闻发布会上告诉记者，由于坠落的残骸和脚手架，以及楼内高温，救援工作受到阻碍，救援人员难以进入可能有居民被困的单位。现场两辆消防车的云梯似乎只能达到32层大楼的一半高度，而最高处的火焰远高于喷水的位置。

• Shelters: The government said it had opened temporary shelters at nearby community centers and a school to accommodate residents. Local news media published photos of some older residents being helped away from the fire and gathering at the shelters, and described police officers going door to door to urge residents to leave.

• 临时庇护所：政府表示，已在附近的社区中心和一所学校开放临时庇护所。当地媒体发布的照片显示，一些年长居民在协助下撤离并聚集在庇护所内，还有报道称警员正挨家挨户上门劝说居民撤离。