Massive Fire in Charlotte, NC.

[97K15004WD]

CFD: 15 workers rescued, 2 unaccounted for in Charlotte construction site fire

According to Charlotte Fire, firefighters were called to Liberty Row Drive to battle a construction site fire.

www.wistv.com

If you watch all the videos (they are on a sequential basis), you will see crazy car damage from the heat of the fire. Cars in a parking garage melted and burned.

Crane operator was rescued (160 feet crane). Still two workers unaccounted for.

Very large wooden structure under construction (reported as five floors) and looks like it was almost framed out. Lots of wood burning at high temperatures and possible damage at nearby buildings also.

For those not familiar with Charlotte, NC, Southpark is one of the expensive areas in Charlotte.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

I am surprised that many of these newer "courtyard style" apartment buildings are able to constructed primarily from wood, especially OSB / chipboard 4 x 8 sheets. It seems from the videos the only masonary part of the construction is the elevator shafts made from cement block.

 

[4WD]

I am surprised that many of these newer "courtyard style" apartment buildings are able to constructed primarily from wood, especially OSB / chipboard 4 x 8 sheets. It seems from the videos the only masonary part of the construction is the elevator shafts made from cement block.

I recall the condos used to have those visible cinder block walls to separate them - of course builders complained it was harder to seal the roofs etc … Not seeing them anymore …

 

[brianl703]

I am surprised that many of these newer "courtyard style" apartment buildings are able to constructed primarily from wood, especially OSB / chipboard 4 x 8 sheets. It seems from the videos the only masonary part of the construction is the elevator shafts made from cement block.

As long as they're not more than 4 stories high per code in Virginia. I don't know what the code allows in other states.

 

[64bawagon]

Many of these type buildings are a combination of wood framing and structural steel.

 

[PontiacHO]

A foam spraying machine supposedly started the fire. It looks like a fuel/chemical fire based on the smoke.
That foam must be highly flammable.

 

[RooflessVW]

That foam must be highly flammable.

Especially before it dries

 

[Lapham3]

We have had a number of cheaply built mostly wood apartment fires. Sometimes in the same building. They are sometimes started by careless folks with barby use on a wood deck. My mom-in-law lived in a condo built of poured concrete, spancrete and steel. The interior studs were also steel. Pretty much fireproof. This was built as a 6 building fan shaped spread in the early 1970's. Quite rare to see.

 

[Fla]

I don't know the details about the Charlotte fire but it certainly reminds me of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 London that killed 72 people. It was caused by highly flammable insultion that was installed on the outside of the building and a poor design which created "chimneys" under the insulation that very quickly spread the fire. I bought a steel building several years ago and I wanted seal it and insulate it and I considering the spray on foam but I fire-tested a piece of it and I found that it was HIGHLY flammable! I can't believe that the GOV allows that stuff to be using in any building!

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

There's several things going on that most of you have no idea about-

If you build with this, you need to have sprinklers to meet _______ requirement. You need 1 hour, 2 hour rated partitions. You need masonry separations.

Apartments under 5 stories are mostly wood framed because they can use residential multi-family workmen who know how to construct that. It's cheaper than using steel erectors and/or concrete people. Materials can be cheaper.

FYI..... Sprinklers are NOT, I said are NOT for the salvaging of a building. They are there as a minimal tool to get people out of a burning building, that's it. They are not there to put a fire out. Can they? Absolutely, but the primary reason behind a sprinkler design is to allow a path out of a building that is protected for a period of time - not infinity.

 

[Fla]

All true but it didn't look to me like the fire sprinklers had been hooked up yet, if there were even any in this particular building. It appears that what you had in Charlotte was a semi-finished building full of wood and flammable foam insulation and that had no doors or windows installed yet so when it caught fire you had a giant wind tunnel full of flames. Essentially nothing but a giant 5 story tinder box! It really is a wonder that as many people got out as they did.

 

[Cujet]

Yikes! I’ve been wanting to built a log home for my retirement place. Maybe I should consider concrete block instead.

 

[brianl703]

wood and flammable foam insulation

Which in a finished building would be covered with drywall, which helps to prevent the spread of fire.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

All true but it didn't look to me like the fire sprinklers had been hooked up yet, if there were even any in this particular building. It appears that what you had in Charlotte was a semi-finished building full of wood and flammable foam insulation and that had no doors or windows installed yet so when it caught fire you had a giant wind tunnel full of flames. Essentially nothing but a giant 5 story tinder box! It really is a wonder that as many people got out as they did.

If it was under construction, the sprinklers were not required to be in-service.

There are jobsite safety protocols in place to educated workmen at the site as to specifically what to do in case of a fire.

Most people don't listen to these, don't care, etc. I've worked in an office FULL of Architects when a building's fire alarm system went off. It was not an announced test. It was unknown as to the cause. I was the only one in the office who left the building.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Yikes! I’ve been wanting to built a log home for my retirement place. Maybe I should consider concrete block instead.

I built a log home in 1996. 6" x 12" rectangular logs.


All the crap you buy from China will burn completely before one log is fully ignited and even begins to burn good.

 

[Fla]

Yikes! I’ve been wanting to built a log home for my retirement place. Maybe I should consider concrete block instead.

If you're considering building in Florida, OH HELL YES! A few people in my family built log homes in Fla and it was always a never ending battle against termites and other insects. I'm not kidding, unknown insects just appear from nowhere and start boring into the logs and it looks like someone shot the logs with bird shot. With today's hurricane windspeed requirements in Florida I'm not sure that any log home could meet the building codes.

I LIKE concrete block buildings. Slap a coat of stucco on it and you're Good To Go for the next 100 years. It's also totally fireproof (the structure, not necessarily the contents.)

 

[Fla]

Which in a finished building would be covered with drywall, which helps to prevent the spread of fire.

WHEN it's finished. This building wasn't.

 

[Cujet]

If you're considering building in Florida, [concrete] OH HELL YES! A few people in my family built log homes in Fla and it was always a never ending battle against termites and other insects.

My current home in Jupiter, FL is concrete block construction, made to Dade County regulations. It's one heck of a tough structure.

Thinking of a Log home in the mountains of TN. Probably without a basement and on a concrete slab. I don't like noisy wooden floors and want tile.

 

[GMFan]

NC follows the latest International Building Code (IBC), as do most states with various amendments. The IBC includes minimum requirements for construction materials and systems for fire protection and life safety purposes. As an engineer who used to work for an engineering firm in Charlotte designing these multi-family construction (and many other types of projects) I can tell you Mecklenburg County has some of the most rigorous plan review, permitting and inspection requirements nationwide.

This building was under construction. Finished wall, floor and ceiling systems were not yet fully installed, which provide a degree of fire compartmentalization and protection. This finished building would have had a full fire alarm system and automatic sprinkler system. If water pressure at the street was too low, it would have had an emergency generator supplying a fire pump for the sprinkler system. A cooking fire or room and contents fire may damage an apartment unit, but I can assure you the automatic sprinklers would inhibit fire spread from affecting adjacent units. The worst that would happen is smoke damage to adjacent units, and water damage from fire suppression. The IBC specified the fire hour ratings of doors, adjoining walls, corridor walls, etc.

A properly constructed wood frame apartment structure is not dangerous and it keeps cost lower to make housing more affordable, using a plentiful, inexpensive and natural resource. These buildings are safer than a single family wood frame home without an automatic sprinkler system.

A wood frame structure without finished systems is a tinder box, because it’s essentially an organized lumber yard.

Kudos to the fire department. The local news here reported a construction worker died in the fire. Sad story. I think this is the second time one of these multi-family wood frame structures had burned in Charlotte in recent memory.

I suspect the cause will never be found, but in my opinion most likely caused by welding or soldering too close to combustibles. In my opinion there should be a full time fire watch on these structures during construction, a horn system to sound evacuation, and a coordinated evacuation plan.

STRUCTURE magazine | Mid-Rise Wood-Frame Buildings

www.structuremag.org

 

[WylieCoyote]

Went right by there when my sister picked me up from the airport in November. Unreal fire.