Imagine ordering lunch, waiting five months, then hearing the restaurant has expanded its delivery area. You would have a fairly simple question. Where is my food? Hong Kong’s smart fire alarm scheme has reached that stage. The fire service says no installations have been completed. Meanwhile, another 6,000 old buildings are being added. Lovely. More people can now qualify for the waiting.

The original rollout covered 3,600 blocks. For someone living in one, the useful announcement would be an installation date. Expanding eligibility gives more residents a chance to get an alarm eventually. But every newly eligible building still needs someone to turn up and fit it. You can make the list longer at a desk. Getting an alarm into a building requires leaving the desk.

This week, the independent committee submitted its final Wang Fuk Court fire report to Hong Kong’s leader. Earlier this month, we wrote about the separate probe into civil servants’ handling of that fire. There is plenty of work examining what happened. Residents waiting for these alarms need something they can use if a fire starts. Five months into the scheme, an eligible building is still waiting for someone to arrive and fit the alarm.