HUGE fire in Hong Kong

[Yankee Chronicler]

Hong Kong fire: At least 13 dead as more than 700 firefighters tackle blaze

The fire has engulfed a number of buildings, with flames spreading on bamboo scaffolding. At least one firefighter is among the dead.

www.bbc.com

It's far too early to determine the cause. I don't think the fire is under control yet. My immediate thought was "Grenfall Towers"

 

[Sifu]

I saw photos this morning. Looked like multiple high-rise buildings, on fire in at least 3, on several levels separated by many floors. I thought the same thing about Grenfell. Article I read started blaming the bamboo scaffold being used in an exterior renovation, which lends some credence to the MCM concern, I can't say I buy it was the scaffold spreading the fire.

 

[BN4537]

Livestream of fire here, still going strong.

Really not sure why they are bothering with the two fire trucks on a fire that big. Maybe trying to protect a big gas line or something?

 

[arwat23]

Based on what I see that's publicly available, the buildings only have one central staircase immediately adjacent to some elevators. I'm sure there were other factors that contributed to the high death toll too, but I can't help but feel like this might be one of them...




And yeah, that live feed looks real similar to Grenfell.

 

[ICE]

I can't say I buy it was the scaffold spreading the fire.

Ya that sounds fanciful. Some examples of bamboo scaffold are stupendous. Bamboo scaffold would burn but the horizontal spread is amazing and bamboo scaffold would collapse.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

Based on what I see that's publicly available, the buildings only have one central staircase immediately adjacent to some elevators. I'm sure there were other factors that contributed to the high death toll too, but I can't help but feel like this might be one of them...


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And yeah, that live feed looks real similar to Grenfell.

Didn't Grenfell Towers also have only one, central exit stair?

And now the boy geniuses are pushing HARD for six-story residential buildings in the U.S. with only one exit stair. What could possibly go wrong?

In this case, if that plan is correct it's a scissor stair -- which is kinda sorta like two stairs in one enclosure. They used to be commonplace when I first started as an architect, then the codes were changed to pretty effectively outlaw them. And now I think I've read somewhere that they are legal again, but with some fairly stict parameters.

 

[SDS]

How dare those fully engulfed hi-rise buildings not collapse under their own weight at free-fall speeds...how dare they!

 

[steveray]

Didn't Grenfell Towers also have only one, central exit stair?

And now the boy geniuses are pushing HARD for six-story residential buildings in the U.S. with only one exit stair. What could possibly go wrong?

In this case, if that plan is correct it's a scissor stair -- which is kinda sorta like two stairs in one enclosure. They used to be commonplace when I first started as an architect, then the codes were changed to pretty effectively outlaw them. And now I think I've read somewhere that they are legal again, but with some fairly stict parameters.

I thought scissor stair too…

 

[Paul Sweet]

They do look like scissors stairs. The problem is being able to seal all the cracks between the stairs so that when smoke gets into one stair it doesn't migrate to the other one.

 

[Yikes]

I know rumors abound, but the latest I heard was that the protective mesh at the scaffold did not meet spec for flame spread, and the wind carried flammable scraps to neighboring scaffolded buildings.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

They do look like scissors stairs. The problem is being able to seal all the cracks between the stairs so that when smoke gets into one stair it doesn't migrate to the other one.

Correct.