The images on social media this week showed Chinese fire engines parked at the border, their lights flashing as they waited to be dispatched toward the inferno that was raging eight miles away in northern Hong Kong.

本周社交媒体上流传的画面显示，中国消防车停在边境，警灯闪烁，等待被派往约13公里外香港北部肆虐的大火现场。

The trucks never entered the city.

这些消防车最终并未进入香港。

On Chinese social media, people questioned why Hong Kong did not take the firefighting help even as its own fire trucks struggled to extinguish the blaze that burned for more than a day and eventually resulted in at least 128 deaths. The moment underscored the delicate political challenge for the city’s Beijing-backed chief executive, John Lee.

在中国社交媒体上，人们质疑为什么香港不接受内地的消防支援，即使香港自己的消防部门奋力扑救超过一天仍难以控制大火，最终造成至少128人死亡。这一时刻凸显了由北京支持的行政长官李家超所面临的微妙政治考验。

Mr. Lee needs to demonstrate that his government, under tighter control by Beijing after a sweeping political overhaul, can manage a crisis of this magnitude on its own. If mainland emergency crews had crossed into Hong Kong, it risked being seen as undermining the city’s promise of running its own affairs.

李家超需要证明，在经历了彻底的政治改革、北京加大对香港政府控制力度之后，他的政府仍能自行应对如此规模的危机。如果内地的应急人员跨境进入香港，可能被视为削弱香港管理自身事务的承诺。

“People should be sensitive to the image that may arise that the Hong Kong people are unable to deal with matters within Hong Kong,” said Ronny Tong, a senior adviser to Mr. Lee.

“大家应该注意，这可能会给人留下香港人无法处理香港内部事务的印象，”李家超的高级顾问汤家骅说。

周六，香港行政长官李家超和其他官员为火灾遇难者默哀。

Hong Kong said on Thursday that it had not asked for firefighting assistance from the mainland. Mr. Lee said that his government was gradually getting the fire under control and thanked China’s top leader and his boss, Xi Jinping, for his concern.

港府周四表示并未向内地提出消防援助请求。李家超表示，政府正逐步控制火势，并感谢国家最高领导人、他的上司习近平的关心。

The system that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong after antigovernment protests of 2019, with a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent, has altered the face of the city’s crisis response. Opposition politicians are in jail, the media operates under new restraints, street demonstrations are a thing of the past and many civic groups have been forced to close. The question is whether the remade political order can deliver in a crisis, rather than merely muzzle criticism of how it is handled.

2019年的反政府抗议活动后，北京在香港实施的新制度——包括一部严厉的国安法——压制了异见，也改变了这座城市应对危机的方式。反对派政治人物入狱、媒体受到新的约束、街头示威已不复存在、许多公民团体被迫解散。问题在于：这套重构的政治秩序是否具备处理危机的能力，而不仅仅是压下对危机处理方式的批评。

His government has a gargantuan task ahead. The death toll on Friday rose sharply above 100 after firefighters were finally able to enter the remains of the seven charred buildings at the Wang Fuk Court complex. Hundreds of shocked and tired residents have piled into shelters. Families are still looking for some 200 missing loved ones. Bodies need to be identified. Around $38 million of government funds have been allocated for victims and the government began disbursing around $1,300 in subsidies for affected families.

李家超的政府面临着一项艰巨的任务。周五，消防员终于进入宏福苑七栋被烧毁的建筑废墟后，死亡人数急剧上升至100多人。数百名惊魂未定、疲惫不堪的居民涌入庇护所。约200名失踪者的家人仍在寻找亲人。遇难者遗体需要辨认身份。政府已拨款约3亿港元用于救济受害者，并开始向受影响的家庭发放1万港元的补助。

Even though China’s crackdown wiped out many independent activist groups, a remarkable wave of volunteerism has risen up to help those in need after the blaze.

尽管北京的打压摧毁了许多独立活动团体，但火灾之后涌现出了一股令人瞩目的志愿者热潮，帮助那些有需要的人。

周五，志愿者在宏福苑整理捐赠的衣物和食物。

Volunteers, including students and small business owners, have distributed food, water and warm clothing, transforming local shops into donation centers and forming human chains to move supplies efficiently. Online chat groups and live trackers have helped coordinate efforts. Social workers and therapists have reached out to attend to those in need.

包括学生和小企业主在内的志愿者们分发食物、水和保暖衣物，将当地的商铺改造成捐赠中心，并组成人链高效地运送物资。在线聊天群和实时追踪系统帮助协调各方工作。社工和心理咨询师也主动联系有需要的人。

The authorities are apparently wary of independent organizing even in crisis. On Saturday, security officials could be seen patrolling the area near the apartment complex, and the South China Morning Post reported that the city’s national security police have ramped up surveillance “against potential seditious and secessionist activities in response to residents mobilizing to help victims of the fire.”

即使在危机时刻，当局显然也对独立的组织行动保持警惕。周六，可以看到安保人员在公寓楼附近巡逻。《南华早报》报道称，由于居民组织起来帮助火灾受害者，香港的国安警察已加强了对“潜在的煽动和分裂活动”的监控。

Hundreds of residents who lost their homes will be placed into hostels and hotels temporarily. But longer-term resettlement is probably one of the tougher tasks: Hong Kong’s housing market is among the world’s most expensive, and affordable units are in chronically short supply.

数百名失去家园的居民将被暂时安置在旅馆和酒店。但长期安置可能是最棘手的任务之一：香港是世界上房价最贵的城市之一，可负担住房长期短缺。

For displaced residents like Poon Kai Tak, 63, and his wife, Cynthia Lau, 68, housing is the top concern. They are staying at a hotel an hour away by train, and Ms. Lau said the government had offered to relocate them to a rural area outside of Tai Po because her husband gets dialysis treatment three times a week at a hospital there. “It’s still very far,” she said. “Many of us need to be in the area for medical checkups.”

对63岁的潘启德（音）和他68岁的妻子辛西娅·刘这样流离失所的居民来说，住房是首要关切。他们目前住在距离家一个小时火车车程的酒店里。刘女士说，政府提出让他们搬到大埔以外的乡郊地区，因为她丈夫每周要去那里的一家医院做三次透析治疗。“但还是很远，”她说。“我们很多人都有医疗需求，需要住在附近。”

数百名惊魂未定、疲惫不堪的居民涌入庇护所。

The government will also need to restore confidence in the city’s construction industry, and in its supervision of it. The police will begin a multiweek investigation inside the buildings, reviewing CCTV footage and trying to piece together what happened. Eight more people were arrested on Friday in a separate investigation by the anti-corruption bureau, on top of an earlier three arrested by the police for gross negligence and manslaughter in connection to a contractor that was conducting renovations on the buildings.

政府还需要重塑公众对香港建筑业及其监管体系的信心。警方将对事发大楼的内部展开为期数周的调查，审查监控录像，力图还原事件真相。警方已经逮捕了与负责大楼维修工程的承包商有关的三人，罪名是严重疏忽和误杀。周五，廉政公署在另一项调查中又逮捕了八人。

As Mr. Lee begins the hard work of coordinating different government agencies in this aftermath, he will also be expected to use the moment to showcase both the softer side of the government and the “superiority of Hong Kong’s new political order,” said Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, a Beijing-backed research group.

北京支持的研究机构——全国港澳研究会的顾问刘兆佳表示，在协调不同政府部门处理善后时，外界也期待李家超借此展现政府温情的一面以及“香港新政治秩序的优越性”。

As a consoler in chief, Mr. Lee, who spent most of his career in security services and led the crackdown on the protests, is relatively untested. On Wednesday night, he visited people who were being treated at a hospital and inspected a shelter. At news briefings, Mr. Lee has focused on detailing the measures taken by the government. On Saturday, he led government officials in observing three minutes of silence for victims of the fire. It was not immediately clear if he had met with families whose loved ones had perished.

作为这个时候最该站出来安抚市民的人，李家超对担任这样的角色并无多少经验，他职业生涯的大部分时间都在安保部门任职，并曾牵头对抗议活动的镇压。周三晚间，他探望了在医院接受治疗的伤者，并视察了一处庇护所。在记者会上，他着重详述了政府所采取的措施。周六，他带领官员为火灾遇难者默哀三分钟。尚不清楚他是否已与罹难者家属见面。

For the government, questions about how such an inferno occurred cast a heavy shadow over the city’s earlier hopes of getting more people to vote in legislative elections on Dec. 7. The poll has largely been met with public indifference since Beijing imposed an overhaul that allowed only people deemed “patriots” to run for seats.

港府此前希望提高12月7日立法会选举投票率，火灾原因所引发的质疑已经给这一愿望蒙上阴影。自北京进行改革、只允许被认为是“爱国者”的人参选以来，公众对此次选举普遍态度冷漠。

Campaigning efforts were put on hold this week, but it was not clear yet whether Mr. Lee would postpone the election.

本周竞选活动已暂停，但李家超是否会推迟选举尚不明确。

周四，位于大埔火灾现场的消防员。

Public anger is growing as signs of safety lapses have started to emerge. After survivors complained that there was no warning of the fire, officials confirmed that none of the alarms had gone off in any of the eight buildings in the housing estate. People questioned how the building contractor was allowed to cover windows in highly flammable foam and wrap the high-rise apartments in netting that appeared to catch fire easily.

随着更多安全漏洞浮现，公众的愤怒情绪升温。幸存者抱怨火灾时没有收到任何警示，官方随后证实，该住宅区所有八栋大楼内的警报均未响起。人们质疑，为何建筑承包商被允许用易燃泡沫覆盖窗户，并用明显极易燃烧的网状物包裹高层公寓。

Mr. Lee might be scrutinized by Beijing for his government’s investigations into wrongdoing, and some officials may have to shoulder responsibility.

李家超开展的失职调查可能受到北京的密切关注，一些官员可能需要承担责任。

“When we observe mainland practices of dealing with crises, usually individual officials are held accountable,” said Sonny Lo, a political analyst in Hong Kong who is an expert on the relationship between Hong Kong and China. “So the question is whether the mainland practice will be observed here.”

“观察内地处理危机的做法，通常会追究个别官员的责任，”香港政治分析家、研究中港关系的专家卢兆兴说。“所以问题就是，内地的做法会不会在香港也适用？”

Each year in December, Hong Kong’s chief executive travels to Beijing to present a report to the central government. The expectation was no different this year, only Mr. Lee will be expected to have something substantial to report on the crisis, Mr. Lo said.

每年12月，香港行政长官都会前往北京向中央政府述职。卢兆兴表示，今年本该一样，只是李家超预计必须就这场危机提交一份实质性的报告。

Beijing will also expect Mr. Lee to take on more support from the central government as part of a longstanding practice by the Chinese government during moments of crisis, experts said.

专家表示，北京也会期望李家超按照内地惯常的危机处理方式，在此期间更多地接受中央政府的支持。

But such help could be politically fraught for Mr. Lee. During one news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Lee if the presence of senior Chinese officials in the city — who had arrived to offer support — reflected shortcomings in the work of his government.

但这样的援助对李家超来说可能充满政治风险。在一次记者会上，有记者问他，中央派人救灾是否反映出政府的工作存在不足。

Mr. Lee avoided the implication and instead emphasized that it was a gesture of Mr. Xi’s “great concern” — a reminder of whom his performance in this crisis ultimately matters most to.

李家超回避了这种暗示，强调这是习近平对香港“高度关注”的体现，这也提醒外界，他在这场危机中的表现最终是要向谁作出交代。

得知亲人被困在公寓楼内身亡的家属质疑，为什么允许建筑承包商用泡沫覆盖窗户，并用非阻燃网包裹高层建筑。