Cladding questions arise in building fire
No serious injuries or deaths have been reported
MILAN — Italian firefighters tackled hot spots Monday in a 20-story apartment building in Milan that was destroyed by fire, but said there were no indications anyone was missing inside, as questions arose about the cladding that witnesses said fueled the fire.
Some cases of smoke inhalation were reported from Sunday’s blaze, but no serious injuries or deaths.
The fire, which sent up a huge plume of black smoke visible for miles, recalled the deadly fire that swept through Grenfell Tower in London in 2017, killing 72 people. In that case, the cladding on the exterior of that building was blamed for the speed at which the fire engulfed the block, and officials noted similar issues in the Milan fire.
“I have never seen a situation like this,” said firefighting official Giuliano Santagata. “Just look at the facade and you see that everything is completely burned, and (we) therefore presume that it was made of flammable material.”
Santagata said the blaze was under control, although there were still outbreaks in some apartments that were being systematically put out.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said it was “unacceptable” that a building just over a decade old was so vulnerable.
“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.
Experts said the lack of victims was due both to firefighters’ speedy response and door-to-door searches, as well as building codes that included firewalls and an ample stairwell.
The fire spread quickly along a cladding shaped like a sail, which was both an aesthetic choice and screened the balconies.
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.
The rules don’t single out any product in particular, but specify how to prevent the spread of the flames along the facade.
Lucchini said the use of flammable materials themselves is not necessarily a danger. “It becomes dangerous when the use of this material does not take into account the potential danger, does not follow the design guidelines’’ and does not include other measures to mitigate the possible threat, he said.
He noted that not all of the panels on the Milan tower burned, indicating that some factor impeded the spread in some areas.
The nearly 200-foot tall building, part of a decadeold redevelopment project, was designed to look like a ship’s keel and included the twin aluminum sails, which burned and fell to the street in pieces.
The fire was reported Sunday by a resident on the 15th floor, who sounded the alarm as he descended the building, alerting other occupants. Residents included Italian rapper Mahmood, the 2019 winner of the San Remo music festival.
When firefighters arrived, the blaze was still mostly contained in one area, allowing them to evacuate the building.