Another apartment block burns - Milan this time.

[FacEngrPE]

Flames consume high-rise in Milan; residents evacuatedAugust 29, 2021.

Looks line another case of "fire resistant" cladding fueling a building fire. The building is reported to be a reinforced concrete structure.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/milan-18-storey-apartment-block-goes-up-in-flames/ar-AANSomx

 

[EdStainless]

and here

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-58385014

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[FacEngrPE]

The same thing all over again.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Italian-firefighters-No-victims-in-20-story-16421096.php[/URL]]“What seems already clear from the start is that the external cladding of the building went up in flames far too quickly, in a dynamic that recalls the Grenfell Tower in London,″ Sala said Monday.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Italian-firefighters-No-victims-in-20-story-16421096.php[/URL]]After the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Italy drafted new rules, with input from firefighters, for claddings of buildings but they have not yet been formally adopted, said Angelo Lucchini, a professor of technical architecture at Milan’s Polytechnic University.

Drafting rules for new buildings does not help the existing building stock.

 

[FacEngrPE]

NFPA Journal Milan, ‘Totally Vulnerable’

We can expect this problem to continue captureing this worldwide - and even defining the size of the problem is just hard.

Over the last 30 years, however, the number of these fires has increased dramatically.

“in every country I’ve visited for NFPA, fire protection professionals are discussing fires involving improperly tested exterior façade assemblies on high-rise buildings.

Data Void: Three years after Grenfell, accurate data on fires involving combustible exterior wall assemblies is still difficult to obtain. What does that mean for the global safety community, and for the people who live and work in thousands of potentially unsafe buildings worldwide?

NFPA Video on Combustible Cladding
NFPA: Understanding and managing the fire hazards of exterior walls containing combustible components: Resources

National Fire Protection Association Youtube Videos

 

[Jacob Henry]

oh man what is happening in the world. God please help us.

https://mwi.solutions/technologies/wms-wcs-and-oms-software/

 

[NorthCivil]

This cladding wasn't "fire resistant". The cladding was very likely to be polyethylene core aluminum sandwich panels.

in favour 10-20 years ago, though fell out of favour for this exact reason. Now aluminium panel cladding will be either solid aluminium, bonded 2 layer aluminium, or sandwich panels with non flammable cores.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

From an unskilled eye who travels about quite a bit. This cladding is pretty much everywhere throughout Europe.

And I can't see anyone have the money to just remove it never mind replacement. And where it's being used there is zero chance of rehousing people.

Nobody wants to start doing a survey because they know fine what the results will be.

 

[NorthCivil]

@Alistair

its interesting, the government is looking to survey the problem and address it in australia. due to the massive similar fire that happened in melbourne in 2014, the "southern cross fire". 40 stories went up in flames in 10 minutes, they reckon it started from a discarded cigarette butt.

even in little old australia, its a multi-billion dollar problem. & the government is not ignoring it. hate to think of the scale of the problem in europe.

Unfortunately, these incidents have given aluminium cladding a bad rep which it doesnt fully deserve. The only problem buildings out there are the buildings with a fully polyethylene core. to muddy the waters even further, some polyethylene cores were modified with gypsum or other products to dampen their flammability. these may or may not be safe enough.

https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Policy-and-Legislation/Buildings/Combustible-cladding

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...-cost-6-2-billion-report-20190730-p52c9x.html