Monday evening, June, 5, 2017 a two and a half story, wood-frame apartment building in Lowell, Mass. went up in flames displacing 34 residents. The fire comes at a time of intense scrutiny of combustible construction materials and the building codes that permit the use of vulnerable methods across the country.
This year, there have been a number of spectacular lightweight, wood-framed apartment fires – most notably in Waterbury, Conn., Oakland, Calif.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Arlington, Va.; College Park, M.D.; Overland Park, Kan.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Maplewood, N.J. There have been dozens over the last few years.
“Across the country we are facing a situation where a known combustible product is being sold, occupied, rented, and leased at an alarming rate,” says Kevin Lawlor, a spokesperson for Build With Strength, a coalition of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association comprised of fire service professionals, engineers, architects and industry experts. “Build with Strength is ready to work with elected officials, advocates, consumers or anyone in Lowell, or any other community that has been affected by fire disasters to reverse this trend and start building safer, non-combustible buildings.”
Cities and towns like New York City, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Maitland, Fla.; Sandy Springs and Tucker, Ga., have taken proactive steps to preemptively ban the use of combustible materials, such as wood, in this type of construction.
