HONG KONG — Hong Kong residents, construction professionals and former senior officials are pushing back against the idea that bamboo scaffolding was a main reason flames spread so quickly in the city’s deadliest blaze in decades, as a debate flares over whether it should be replaced.
Authorities were quick to focus on the traditional scaffolding enveloping the apartment buildings at the Wang Fuk Court complex — where the fatal Nov. 26 blaze spread from one tower to seven, killing at least 159 people. While much of the green netting covering the scaffolding incinerated, some of the bamboo scaffolding also burned and fell, and officials have stepped up plans to replace it.
Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight on Hong Kong high rises, though mainland China and places elsewhere in Asia have mostly begun using metal alternatives.
An industry union says Hong Kong has an estimated 3,000 workers registered to erect bamboo scaffolding, a construction technique dating back hundreds of years.
“I would be very cautious about blaming bamboo itself before the full investigation reports are published,” said Kristof Crolla, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Hong Kong whose focus includes bamboo architecture.
As a natural material, bamboo can be combustible, Crolla said. But “when it is properly used and combined with certified fire-retardant netting it is comparatively hard to ignite.”
During the fire, flames shot up the bamboo scaffolding erected for external maintenance work,-as well as the green netting draping it. But bamboo is usually not “easily ignited,” said Raffaella Endrizzi, an architect who researches bamboo scaffolding who teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Focusing on bamboo alone risks obscuring more systemic safety issues,” she said.
Last week, as firefighters battled the deadly inferno for a second day, the city’s chief secretary for administration, Eric Chan, told reporters that bamboo scaffolding’s fire resistance was “inferior” to that of metal scaffolding.
The city’s top leader, John Lee, said officials had met with construction industry representatives to discuss timelines for switching to metal scaffolding. Metal should be used for safety reasons when possible, Chan said.
The initial cause of the fire is under investigation. So far, experts have found that some of the green netting wrapped around the bamboo scaffolding was substandard and that flammable foam boards were used to seal windows during the months’ long renovations. Those were the main factors causing the fire to spread to seven of the eight buildings in the Wang Fuk Court complex, said Secretary for Security Chris Tang.
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