Massive fire engulfs high rises in Hong Kong
- Thread starter EviLore
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kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
The whole building complex was covered with bamboo scaffolding and flammable material. When a part of that started to burn, it was incredibly easy for the fire to spread _everywhere_. Totally irresponsible.
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StreetsofBeige
Member
Not sure how big and new the buildings are on fire, but a lot of buildings in HK are also very thin, old, and looks like never been renovated. So a couple slow shitty elevators might be all it has to transport people unless people make a mad dash down the stairs. Seen it myself when I visited HK long time ago.
You step out of the elevator and the floor is literally like 8 ft x 8 ft of space from 50 years ago with the original paint. And each corner of the square is the front door of a residential unit. Cramped as fuck. The layout is like a tight cloverleaf whereas your typical apartment or condo you probably think of is you get out of a big set of elevators and then walk down some long corridors to each side of the layout. Then each side has it's own set of stairs down to street level.
You step out of the elevator and the floor is literally like 8 ft x 8 ft of space from 50 years ago with the original paint. And each corner of the square is the front door of a residential unit. Cramped as fuck. The layout is like a tight cloverleaf whereas your typical apartment or condo you probably think of is you get out of a big set of elevators and then walk down some long corridors to each side of the layout. Then each side has it's own set of stairs down to street level.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Holy shit that looks terrifying as fuck and I can't imagine someone living in one of the upper floors watching the fire catch up to them.
Hari Seldon
Member
Holy shit that looks like the scene in Alien Earth when the spaceship crashed into the city.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
It changed.
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kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
How common were these in the past? Did they go decades and decades without issue prior?
StreetsofBeige
Member
That's nuts.
I thought buildings were supposed to use as steel, concrete, and non-flammables so any homeowner fire is limited to the unit itself. What a mistake that was to use some kind of flammable cladding.
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Jinzo Prime
Member
Syrofoam is still a popular choice for building insulation. Not a huge problem intrinsically, it depends on the type used.
Mattyp
Not the YouTuber
It would be more the green cloth they wrap Hong Kong buildings in, picture like a see through mesh of flammable material they wrap around entire construction sites from my experience when I've visited.
This is one thing for Hong Kong but it's surprising residents don't start more fires like this by accident with how old the buildings are and close without any type of working fire systems.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
God almighty that looks absolutely terrible.
mitch1971
Member
We had a massive renovation to housing around the area where I lived. The cladding that was added to the highrises during the renovation was on for just a few week before Grenfell incident happened in London. That shit was ripped down asap.
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calico
Member
Grenfell was also made much worse than it needed to be by trying to implement the established 'stay put' procedure. This approach works on the assumption that the fire will be contained to one unit, whereas at Grenfell this containment had clearly totally failed (it was spreading externally), the tower was engulfed in flames but they tried to follow the stay put procedure anyway.
I remember at the time it happened seeing a phone video from a girl (sounded like a teen) outside on the street as the fire was just starting to spread up the outside of the building, she was shouting that there's a fire and to get out of the building. The most common sense response imaginable. The people inside who called the emergency services were instead advised to stay put. This advice was given for over an hour after containment had visibly failed.
I remember at the time it happened seeing a phone video from a girl (sounded like a teen) outside on the street as the fire was just starting to spread up the outside of the building, she was shouting that there's a fire and to get out of the building. The most common sense response imaginable. The people inside who called the emergency services were instead advised to stay put. This advice was given for over an hour after containment had visibly failed.
P:axMagellanic
Member
Doubt it's the bamboo, and more likely the green plastic shit on the outside and dogshit materials inside. Building itself looks flawed with the way the fire is being chimneyed up the sides.
EverydayBeast
ChatShitGPT Alpha 0.001
There are three main reasons why bamboo scaffolds are used in Hong Kong.
First, speed. An experienced team can "wrap" a building quickly because poles are light and can be cut to fit irregular shapes. That matters in tight streets with limited crane access.
Second, cost. Bamboo is a fraction of the price of metal systems, so contractors can keep bids low. The material is also easy to source locally, which keeps routine repairs and repainting within budget.
Third, tradition and skills. Bamboo scaffolding features in a famous piece of Chinese art, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, painted by Zhang Zeduan who lived between 1085 and 1145. Hong Kong still trains and certifies bamboo scaffolders, and the craft remains part of the city's construction culture.
Cyberpunkd
Member
This. I lived in HK for a while and visited numerous times. The old residential buildings in HK make the council estate housing look like a 5-star hotel. Mainly on the Kowloon side, but there are also a lot of small residential buildings tucked in between the glass skyscrapers on HK island. The hallways are super small and most of these residential buildings can easily go 15-20 floors, since the land in HK is so expensive you have no choice where to build but up.
MidGenRefresh
*Refreshes biennially
EvilLore News Network. I literally learn more about news from here than any other place.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Nightmare fuel.
poodaddy
Member
AI can use AI?
There are three main reasons why bamboo scaffolds are used in Hong Kong.
First, speed. An experienced team can "wrap" a building quickly because poles are light and can be cut to fit irregular shapes. That matters in tight streets with limited crane access.
Second, cost. Bamboo is a fraction of the price of metal systems, so contractors can keep bids low. The material is also easy to source locally, which keeps routine repairs and repainting within budget.
Third, tradition and skills. Bamboo scaffolding features in a famous piece of Chinese art, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, painted by Zhang Zeduan who lived between 1085 and 1145. Hong Kong still trains and certifies bamboo scaffolders, and the craft remains part of the city's construction culture.
Robot Carnival
Member
yeah, bamboo scaffold is not the issue here. I lived in Hong Kong for eleven years back then and rarely heard of the bamboo scaffolds causing fire back then. there had been a video flowing around of worker smoking while resting on the scaffolding up high. that could be the more likely cause of the fire I think. also, these scaffold workera were all HK locals before but I was told by friend who lives there that they had been contracting companies from mainland China to do these work so how discipline the workers are might have to be considered too.
Bambo scaffolding doesn't cause a fire but it helps it spread. Bambo scaffolding is only partially the issue even there. If the building itself was fire retardant then it wouldn't have spread like this and would be contained to the scaffolding. The cause is human error but the fire spreads from it and flammable construction material.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
Yeah, from the looks of it scaffolding helped spread the fire between the buildings and then the crappy wrap and flammable insulation took care of the rest.
