Fire in Milan, the expert: “Coating was not appropriate”

On the fire in Milan “I can only make hypotheses on the basis of what I see and what I read. I have to say one thing: since the fire seems to have spread only outside, if something did not work it concerns exclusively the enclosure and in particular its coating. It means that the internal security system has worked “. So to the ‘Corriere della sera’ Professor Angelo Lucchini, professor of technical architecture at the Milan Polytechnic and expert in tall and complex buildings and in matters related to safety and fire, regarding the fire that yesterday devastated a building in via Antonini, in Milan. Read also For Lucchini, the outside building lit up like a match “because the cladding was made of combustible material, capable of reacting quickly to the trigger which, as far as we know, seems to have occurred on a high floor” the expert underlines, pointing out that for facades “it is inappropriate and does not reconcile with the fire safety requirements set by the Ministry of the Interior for civil buildings”. An obligation does not exist, Lucchini remarks: “The guidelines prepared by the fire brigade for the ministry, which were very well done, however, have the value of a recommendation. a mandatory level “. And he continues:” I don’t know what material was used for the cladding. The obvious thing is its remarkable reactivity to fire, since the fire spread in a very short time to the lower levels of both main facades . Normally there is no need to protect the facades with this kind of systems as the materials themselves should safeguard their safety “. Between the building in via Antonini and the Grenfell Tower in London, which had caught fire quickly “there is a strong analogy – concludes Lucchini -. Fortunately, in the Milanese case there were no evacuation problems thanks to the probable compliance with the construction rules on compartmentalization who avoided the flames from attacking the internal floors. In London, however, no and it was a tragedy “.