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Over the weekend a fire broke out at 102 North Highland Avenue in Marfa, Texas, the two-story brick building best known as the Architecture Office of Donald Judd. According to an Instagram post by the Judd Foundation, the interior of the building, which was undergoing an extensive three-year... View full entry
An investigation by the Better Government Association (BGA) and the Chicago Tribune has found that, since 2014, at least 61 people have died in Chicago buildings where city officials were aware of fire safety problems. Buildings where the deaths occurred, 23 of which were children under the age of... View full entry
Executives who sold combustible insulation for use on Grenfell Tower perpetrated a “fraud on the market” by rigging a fire test and making “misleading” claims about it, a public inquiry has heard.
Celotex, a subsidiary of the French construction materials company Saint-Gobain, behaved in a “completely unethical” way, admitted Jonathan Roper, a former assistant product manager.
— The Guardian
A fire has broken out in a downtown Beirut building near the city's port where an explosion last month killed nearly 200 people, wounded thousands and left the city's residents traumatised.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire in one of the city's best-known buildings that was the work of the late Iraq-born British architect, Zaha Hadid.
— Al Jazeera
The ZHA-designed commercial building was reportedly still under construction, and one corner appears to be badly damaged from the fire, according to first news reports. Welding is rumored to be the cause of the fire. No injuries have been reported so far. This story is still developing. UPDATE... View full entry
It has been a year to the day since a fire devastated the Notre Dame cathedral, causing its spire to collapse and leaving the 850-year-old church's future in doubt. [...]
But with the coronavirus shutdown bringing restoration efforts to a standstill -- and the country's attention now focused elsewhere -- the somber anniversary is set to pass with little fanfare.
— CNN
Click here to catch up with Archinect's complete coverage that followed the devastating news of the Notre Dame blaze on April 15, 2019. #notredame #paris #incendie #désastre pic.twitter.com/jpNosqFGGp— Kinsley Laurence (@KinsleyLaurence) April 15, 2019 The moment the cathedral's spire... View full entry
Officials in Los Angeles are reconsidering closing a legal loophole that exempts tall buildings built between 1943 and 1974 from fire sprinkler requirements after an unsprinkled high rise apartment tower on the city's Westside caught fire yesterday for the second time in recent years, injuring a a... View full entry
Fragile and flammable, Eucalypti have been implicated in worsening wildfires across the world. But there's little consensus over their culpability, value, or future in California's landscape. Defenders and opponents each say that science and history are on their side. — The Guardian
A long-simmering battle over the current and future status of California's Eucalyptus trees is close to bubbling over again, as the increasingly present risk of catastrophic fire events pits Eucalyptus lovers against native plant enthusiasts who would like to see the tinder-producing groves... View full entry
The samples he collects will help scientists better understand how the massive increase in seasonal wildfires burning through residential areas might be affecting our health. Where smoke once contained the remnants of only biomass (trees and other organic matter), fires are now burning up homes—structures that contain thousands of synthetic chemicals, paints, plastics, and metals that smolder and combust into tiny particles. — National Geographic
The London fire brigade’s readiness for the Grenfell Tower fire was “gravely inadequate” and fewer people would have died if it had been better prepared, a long-awaited public inquiry report into the disaster that killed 72 people has concluded ... [despite] “compelling evidence that the external walls of the building failed to comply with requirements” of building regulations governing fire safety. — The Guardian
The Fire Brigades Union published a damning report in September that accuses former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's deregulation — followed, and reportedly amplified, by Tony Blair — of having gutted building and fire safety regulations. At the same time, firefighters are blamed for... View full entry
Early this morning, at around 1:30am, a fire broke out along the 405 freeway near the Getty Center in Los Angeles. As the blaze spread through the Sepulveda Pass, firefighters were found on the scene working to contain the fires as residents were prompted to evacuate the area according to ABC... View full entry
The Minister's Treehouse — reportedly the largest treehouse in the world — has burned to the ground after a raging fire. The Tennessee landmark went up in flames late Tuesday night, and officials were unable to save it.
Cumberland County Fire Rescue said the entire building turned to ash in less than 15 minutes, CBS affiliate WVLT-TV confirmed. Locals watched as the fire erupted around 10:30 p.m. local time. The house collapsed just as emergency services arrived.
— CBS News
Built by Tennessee minister Horace Burgess, in response to a vision he had, the construction of the treehouse began in 1993. The structure was supported by an 80-foot-tall oak tree and quickly became a popular tourist attraction. In 2012 the location was closed due to fire safety concerns, a worry... View full entry
A fire broke out in Turin’s 18th-century royal stables and riding school the Cavallerizza Reale on Monday, destroying part of the roof of the UNESCO world heritage site...The blaze began at about 0745 local time, firefighters said. Six teams were deployed and the flames were extinguished after about two hours, but not before a significant part of the roof had collapsed. — Reuters
The cause of the fire is unknown and no one was injured, Reuters reports. View full entry
For the past few weeks, the media has slowly increased its coverage of the devastating fires being intentionally set in the Amazon rainforest. Besides the politically charged issues and highly questionable leadership in Brazil, matters like this can quickly become headline news that leaves people... View full entry
In the height of daytime, the sky suddenly blackened, and day became night in Sao Paulo.
Sure, smog is bad in the Western Hemisphere’s largest city, where traffic jams can stretch for dozens of miles. But not this bad. What was going on? Was the end near?
— The Washington Post
A combination of meteorological events paired with smoke that had traveled hundreds of miles from intense forest fires in remote parts of the Amazon caused a period of sudden midday darkness in the most populous city in the Western Hemisphere on Monday, reports The Washington Post. Meanwhile on... View full entry
American attorneys famous for claims in construction disasters have launched a landmark wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia against three US companies on behalf of 69 of the 72 people killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, and 177 who were injured in the tragedy. — Global Construction Review
"They are targeting Arconic, Inc., which they claim supplied the Reynobond Polyethylene Cladding (PE) panels on Grenfell; Celotex Corporation, which they claim supplied the insulation used in the cladding system; and Whirlpool Corporation, which manufactured the fridge-freezer thought to be linked... View full entry
