[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Banshee ↗

A whole piece of bamboo does not burn easily. The covering sheet they use is simply not fireproof. People have cooked with whole bamboo for a long time and it does not catch fire. There are hundreds of videos of people trying to make a whole piece burn, and it still does not catch fire even when you put a flame straight on it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mPIqG_Bjni0

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uc_rzdVLQyQ

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zcH1Z1gY14s

Live bamboo's high silica and water content make it less flammable and harder to ignite but mature or dried bamboo has very little water inside (often under 15% moisture). Once one culm (stalk) ignites, the heat quickly travels up the hollow tubes and jumps to neighboring stalks. Bamboo groves can experience intense, fast-moving fires.

At it’s peak the temperature of the fire reached 500C (932F), they add, saying that because of this the blaze reignited in some places after being doused.

Dry bamboo ignites at ~300–400 °C plus substandard, non-fire-retardant mesh nettings were used on higher levels.

Large bamboo poles form a protective char layer at temperatures around 270°C (518°F).

Wildfires in bamboo forests (e.g., in parts of Asia or South America) are known to burn extremely hot and fast.


Oct. 2025: Chinachem Tower, Central Business District, Hong Kong. A massive fire engulfed bamboo scaffolding during building maintenance, consuming poles and netting; spread to external walls and windows. No deaths reported, but significant property damage.

2025. Smaller fires at several construction sites involving bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong in early 2025.

2023. Fire at a high-rise under renovation; bamboo scaffolding caught fire from welding sparks, spreading to adjacent structures. 10 killed, 20+ injured in Guangzhou.

2021. Manila, Scaffolding fire at a hotel renovation site; bamboo poles ignited from electrical fault. Five workers killed.


However: Wang Fuk Court, a dense housing estate in northern Hong Kong, was home to more than 4,000 people, most of them older and of modest means, according to census data. The Nov. 26 blaze started at Block F.

Officials say netting on a lower floor caught fire first, a moment that a passerby apparently captured on video.

The video shows the fire at an alcove between two wings of the cross-shaped building and in front of a staircase.

That semi-enclosed space may have created a “stack” or “chimney effect” of vertical air flow that pushed the fire quickly upward, experts say. The gap between the scaffolding and the exterior wall could also have caused that effect.

Something that would normally not burn very quickly will burn very quickly because of the radiant heat feedback inside this chimney.

Every tower in Wang Fuk Court featured these recessed alcoves. During the fire they became vertical express lanes for heat and smoke.

The eight apartment towers at Wang Fuk Court, under renovation since last summer, were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding and plastic netting to prevent construction material from falling to the ground.

Investigators said that after a summer typhoon, contractors had replaced some of the netting with cheaper material that did not meet fire-safety standards.

So many windows were covered with the flammable foam panels that in the one unaffected building, the police found them on windows in the elevator lobby on every floor.

As the panels caught fire, they helped spread the fire vertically. And as the boards melted into liquid, the material likely became like gasoline, spreading fire downward as well.

They also caused the windows to overheat, breaking the glass and allowing the fire to enter the buildings.

The foam boards meant that many residents could not see what was going on outside even after the fire had started. Photos taken from inside apartment units before the fire show how the foam boards completely blocked the view.

Others have blamed the bamboo scaffolding, which is not highly flammable but can still ignite at high temperatures. Temperatures within the building reached as high as 930 degrees Fahrenheit.

As pieces of bamboo caught fire and broke off, they blocked fire exits and made it dangerous for firefighters to enter. The scaffolding also made it hard for firefighters to position rescue ladders.

The windows of the elevator lobby and stairwell of each building posed another problem: As they shattered in the heat, smoke and fire entered the corridors, cutting off residents’ escape routes.

The fires on multiple floors prevented firefighters from moving to the higher levels, and narrow corridors limited the number of firefighters that could be on a given floor, officials said. It was so hot that apartment units kept reigniting, slowing the firefighters even more.

Experts say the fire jumped from one high-rise to another in a “domino effect” as falling embers and burning debris reached the scaffolding netting or polystyrene foam of other buildings — similar to how wildfires spread.

The intense heat from the fire may also have “preheated” neighboring buildings, between 100 and 30 feet away, making it easier for those burning embers to start new fires.

The mesh, the polystyrene, all the outside of the building are heated up because they are facing the flames in the adjacent building.

There were other failures. Investigators found that the fire alarm systems in the eight buildings were not working properly. Residents described being notified of the fire by family members outside the building who saw news of the blaze.

Within three hours, seven of the eight buildings were ablaze.


All in all it was the perfect (fire) storm 30 people are still missing.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Dry bamboo ignites at ~300–400 °C plus substandard, non-fire-retardant mesh nettings were used on higher levels.

Large bamboo poles form a protective char layer at temperatures around 270°C (518°F).

Wildfires in bamboo forests (e.g., in parts of Asia or South America) are known to burn extremely hot and fast.


Oct. 2025: Chinachem Tower, Central Business District, Hong Kong. A massive fire engulfed bamboo scaffolding during building maintenance, consuming poles and netting; spread to external walls and windows. No deaths reported, but significant property damage.

2025. Smaller fires at several construction sites involving bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong in early 2025.

2023. Fire at a high-rise under renovation; bamboo scaffolding caught fire from welding sparks, spreading to adjacent structures. 10 killed, 20+ injured in Guangzhou.

2021. Manila, Scaffolding fire at a hotel renovation site; bamboo poles ignited from electrical fault. Five workers killed.

Could you give me the links to all those fire incidents you mentioned? I tried Google and Baidu but I could not find any news about them, apart from the one in Hong Kong.

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Banshee ↗

Could you give me the links to all those fire incidents you mentioned? I tried Google and Baidu but I could not find any news about them, apart from the one in Hong Kong.

https://hongkongfp.com/2025/10/19/fo...s-scaffolding/

Local advocacy groups reported at least two other fires involving bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong earlier in the year 2025, but specific street/building names are not generally released for minor incidents in international reporting.

2023 was in HK and not in Guangzhou but not far away from each other. https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/02/huge-...aper-18378312/

For the manila 2021 i couldn't find anything so guess ai search mixed things up there.


cool vid about a female construction worker using bamboo scaffolding

[yah]

Thanks, kellyhound. Lots of good info.
I always wondered how they assembled those. They basically put those motherfuckers together with zip ties. Holy shit.