Shoe Factory Fire Kills 28 in China’s Fujian Province

A catastrophic fire at a shoe factory in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, has claimed 28 lives, with investigations revealing that a fire safety inspection conducted just two days before the blaze had identified hazards that were never adequately addressed. The fire broke out at midday on July 9 at Fujian Huipeng Shoe Industry Co., Ltd., a five-story factory in the densely industrial Jiangtou Village of Chendai Town, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Of the 239 people on site — 237 employees and two delivery personnel — 213 were evacuated or rescued. Two victims died after being hospitalized, and 26 initially reported missing were all found deceased. The blaze originated on the first-floor punch workshop, where highly flammable shoe materials including adhesives, sponges, and plastics fueled a rapid inferno.

Victims and Human Toll

The victims were predominantly migrant workers from poorer inland provinces such as Jiangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, working on the fourth-floor sewing workshop under a piece-rate payment system. NetEase News reported that some victims had only started working at the factory two days before the fire.

Among the deceased was Zhang Zhicheng, a 30-year-old shoe cutter from Ganzhou, Jiangxi, who had joined the factory just two days earlier. According to a fellow worker, Zhang remained at his workstation during lunch because the piece-rate system meant “if you work more, you earn more.” He fled to the roof but jumped from the building and died from his injuries. Another victim, Song Lei from Bijie, Guizhou, worked alongside her husband, brother, and sister-in-law at the same factory — she was the only one of the four who did not escape.

Rescue Challenges

Firefighters faced extraordinary obstacles in their rescue efforts. The building’s narrow surrounding roads prevented fire trucks from accessing the site easily, and the factory compound had only a single entrance. Large quantities of flammable materials caused the fire to spread rapidly, and by the time 183 firefighters with 35 vehicles arrived — later expanded to over 500 personnel — the building was already in full combustion, as CCTV News reported.

Jinjiang Fire Rescue Brigade Captain Du Zhenzhou described how the roof — normally a safe refuge — had been cluttered with shoe lasts and other debris. A hole in the roof allowed thick smoke to rise from below, and the piled items caught fire quickly, making rescue operations extremely difficult. Iron grilles on windows blocked escape routes, and the building had no fire sprinkler system installed.

Quanzhou Fire Rescue Bureau Chief Xu Zhihui outlined three critical factors at a July 10 press conference: the building’s large single-floor spans and narrow surrounding roads, the massive quantity of flammable materials that caused rapid fire spread, and shifting wind directions that complicated escape and rescue operations on the roof.

Systemic Failures

The tragedy has exposed profound failures in regulatory oversight. The factory had been ordered to stop production in 2025 for fire safety violations but resumed operations without fully addressing them. A town-organized inspection on the evening of July 7 — just two days before the fire — identified blocked fire escapes and debris near electrical distribution boxes, ordering rectification by July 13. The fire occurred before that deadline.

Chendai Town Deputy Party Secretary Liu Muquan acknowledged the systemic nature of the failure, telling reporters: “The government needs to reflect on the closed-loop aspect of our daily inspections. After inspections, how do we track and supervise? How do we prevent backsliding and rebound?” Village resident cadre Cai Rongfeng admitted that fire escape violations had been flagged repeatedly, adding that the factory had been sealed in 2025 for the same issues.

Government Response and Accountability

At a press conference on July 10, Quanzhou Mayor Cai Zhansheng bowed in apology, stating: “This accident caused heavy casualties, with an extremely painful price and profoundly deep lessons.” President Xi Jinping issued instructions calling for a thorough investigation and serious accountability. The State Council Safety Committee has launched a supervisory investigation, and seven company officials have been detained with the company’s accounts frozen. Fujian Province has established an accident investigation team and is urging safety inspections across similar industries.

Broader Implications

Jinjiang, known as “China’s Shoe Capital,” produces approximately 20% of the world’s athletic shoes. Jiangtou Village alone hosts over 200 shoemaking and shoe material enterprises. The BBC noted that this disaster follows the November 2025 Hong Kong Wang Fuk Court fire that killed 168 people, after which China launched a high-rise building fire prevention campaign.

The fire raises urgent questions about workplace safety in China’s labor-intensive manufacturing sector, where piece-rate systems incentivize workers to skip breaks, flammable materials are stored without proper separation, and inspections routinely fail to translate into meaningful enforcement. As authorities investigate, the families of 28 migrant workers — many of whom were the primary breadwinners for their families — now face an uncertain future.