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Fire test: wooden house vs. ordinary house

Paulius Milčius
Demos
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this demo1 month2019–2021 score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Linked in threads on wood buildings as a vivid demonstration that heavy timber resists fire and keeps structural integrity.

A short unscientific fire test comparing a massive timber house with an ordinary house. It shows the wood chars and burns slowly while still holding together.

“This video makes the difference very clear” (HN, 2019)

1 recommendations · 2 citations · Demos

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@crote Feb 2019 Recommends
on HN thread At 18 Stories, Mjøsa Tower Is World’s Tallest Wooden Building
This is what a forest looks like after a fire: [link] . Note that the trees are all still there. Wood is surprisingly difficult to burn, and if it does, it will do so very predictably, slowly, with relatively low temperatures, while maintaining structural integrity. This video makes the difference very clear: [this video] . It's not that wood can't burn, it's that it won't burn significantly.
Shows wood burning slowly while keeping structural integrity

Citations, criticism and jokes

@samsk Jan 2019 Cites it
on HN thread More buildings should be made of wood
I've found small fire test, its not very scientific, but shows what I was talking about: [this video] To correct myself, its the mortar that doesn't likes the fire much more than pure concrete, therefore brick wall has to be usually demolished after fire. But yes, everything depends on intensity of the fire, but I would never say that (properly built) wood house burns easier or faster than brick house, its kind of a myth. It burns differently with different result, and different kind of damages. Where, in the wood house the damages can be _usually_ fixed easier as in brick house.
Small fire test comparing wood and brick houses
@fy20 Mar 2021 Cites it
on HN thread The Era of the Wood Skyscraper Is Arriving
Wood can actually resist fires more than other building materials such as steel. Yes it does burn, but it also doesn't lose it's structural integrity when heated: [this video]
Demonstrates wood keeping structural integrity when heated

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