Additional Perspective on Three Balcony Fire Incidents Involving Glass Balustrades

Abstract

Dear Editor,We have read the recent paper on the 'Qualitative assessment of fire hazard posed by laminated glass balcony balustrades on fire spread' published in Fire Technology by Faudzi et al. [1] with interest. We are also undertaking ongoing work on the topic of the fire performance of laminated glass [2] and part of that study has also been investigating some of the recent incidents in which fires have occurred on balconies with glass balustrades. We would like to offer an additional perspective on three of the incidents discussed by Faudzi et al., namely the West Hampstead square fire (incident #3) in the Orwell Building, London, UK in 2018, the Lacrosse Docklands fire (incident #1), Melbourne, Australia, in 2014, and The Lighthouse, Manchester in 2017 (incident #2). Our findings are based on the design of the existing building prior to the incident, information from the incident itself and any post-incident investigations.