The China Thread

[citizen k]

BBC news

At least 36 people have been killed in a major fire engulfing apartment blocks in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, with 279 people not accounted for

[citizen k]

[Jacob]

That looks bad

[DGuller]

Woah!  How can this happen to modern construction?  HK doesn't seem to be the place that would have negotiable enforcement of building code.

[Sheilbh]

Very early but from what I've seen people saying it might be the bamboo scaffolding (or at least that could be how the fire spread).

[Razgovory]

"So passes Mono, son of.. his father. And so pass also the days of Hong Kong... for good or evil they are ended,"

[crazy canuck]

Woah!  How can this happen to modern construction?  HK doesn't seem to be the place that would have negotiable enforcement of building code.

Like London's fire, the problem is it modern construction

[DGuller]

Very early but from what I've seen people saying it might be the bamboo scaffolding (or at least that could be how the fire spread).

Yeah, I guess no internal fire resistiveness or compartmentalization will work if you wrap the whole building in kindling from the outside.

[Sheilbh]

Very early but from what I've seen people saying it might be the bamboo scaffolding (or at least that could be how the fire spread).

Yeah, I guess no internal fire resistiveness or compartmentalization will work if you wrap the whole building in kindling from the outside.

I have seen this be criticised by some Hong Konger engineers and surveyors in the UK who note that bamboo is fire resistant which is part of the reason it is used. For example you can still see the bamboo scaffolding intact despite two days of raging fire:


They say it's far more likely to be the meshing wrapped around the scaffolding that caused the spread of the fire, especially as there is apparently a well-documented problem in Hong Kong of construction companies using non-compliant, flammable mesh materials that are actually banned. Apparently this is something where there have been many whistleblowers but little action.

Not sure how accurate but the fact the scaffolding is still standing does make me doubt that it was spreading the fire.

[Jacob]

Yeah, if the building caught fire and then after the fire the bamboo scaffolding is not burned then it seems pretty reasonable to conclude that the scaffolding did not cause or spread the fire.

[HVC]

I read that windows were covered in styrofoam and that what caused the fast spread. Not sure why you'd cover the windows in styrofoam? Sound deadening? Or I guess if you were spraying the facade with something. Another contributing factor, not in the fire but the death toll, is that the fire alarms were faulty and weren't sounding an alarm.