Bamboo scaffolding, a centuries-old technique, comes under scrutiny after Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — The Hong Kong residential towers engulfed by smoke and flames on Wednesday were surrounded by an ancient construction material familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the one of the world’s most densely packed urban hubs.

It’s nearly impossible to walk down the streets of Hong Kong and not see buildings surrounded by bamboo scaffolding – a construction material that’s celebrated for its flexibility, low cost and sustainability.

Bamboo scaffolding dates back to at least the Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago, and has been used to build some of the city’s tallest and most iconic skyscrapers, like Norman Foster’s HSBC headquarters.

While it is considered a treasured Hong Kong tradition, it’s recently drawn scrutiny for being combustible and prone to deterioration over time. That’s despite disasters like this being extremely rare in Hong Kong, which has a strong track record when it comes to building safety – thanks to high quality construction and the strict enforcement of building regulations.

The cause of the fire at Tai Po district is not yet known, but authorities have arrested three people linked to a construction company accused of “gross negligence.” At the time of the blaze, the complex was under renovation and encased in bamboo scaffolding and safety netting.

“Bamboo is definitely a flammable material. This is a very dry season in Hong Kong, so, the likelihood of ignition of this bamboo is very high. Once it’s ignited, the fire spread will be super-fast,” said Xinyan Huang, associate professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering.

The bamboo poles are also “vertically oriented, so the fire is basically spreading up without any resistance,” he added.

Officials added that they suspect other construction materials found at the apartments – including protective nets, canvas, and plastic covers – failed to meet safety standards.

Police found the construction company name on flammable polystyrene boards that firefighters found blocking some windows at the apartment complex. The director of fire services said the presence of the boards was “unusual.”

Authorities are now investigating whether the polystyrene boards and other flammable material may have contributed to the inferno.

The bamboo debate

This year has seen heightened discussion of the future of bamboo scaffolding. Hong Kong’s Development Bureau recently announced that 50% of new public building projects erected from March onwards would need to use metal scaffolding to “better protect workers” and align with modern construction standards in “advanced cities.”

There were 24 deaths related to bamboo scaffolding from January 2018 to August 2025, according to Hong Kong’s Labour Department.

That announcement had more to do with worker safety than fire hazards – but the latter was brought to the fore in October after another building covered in scaffolding caught fire in Hong Kong’s central business district. Afterward, authorities said they did not see any obvious structural hazards when they inspected the site, but said an investigation was underway to determine whether all construction materials were up to grade, according to public broadcaster RTHK.

Some observers around the world may be confused why Hong Kong – a glittering financial hub – hadn’t phased out bamboo sooner. The hashtag “Why Hong Kong still uses bamboo scaffolding” trended on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Thursday, with many calling on the city’s government to follow the lead of mainland Chinese authorities – who banned the use of bamboo scaffolding in 2022.

But the move to pull back on bamboo scaffolding drew backlash from local residents, many of whom noted that the technique is a cultural heritage that needs to be maintained.

The scaffolding is almost ubiquitous on the streets, a striking visual complement to the near-constant building and re-building that has defined Hong Kong’s character for decades.

Aside from helping develop Hong Kong’s modern structures, bamboo has also played an integral role in building temporary Cantonese opera theaters.

Some construction workers and unions also challenged the notion that bamboo was unsafe, pointing to stringent safety regulations.

All bamboo scaffolding projects are required by law to follow government guidelines that are regularly updated. They specify the thickness of the bamboo, the minimum strength of nylon strips used for tying platforms together, the proper spacing between poles, and many more details.

Among these rules is a requirement that all protective nets, screens, tarps and sheets used to cover the facade of buildings “should have appropriate fire retardant properties in compliance with a recognized standard,” the law reads.

Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said at a news conference that a task force would investigate “whether the building’s exterior walls meet the fire-retardant standard.”

“If there’s any wrongdoing, we’ll pursue accountability in accordance with laws and regulations,” he added.

As investigators continue their probe, Huang, the professor, said the initial cause is less important than the external factors that allowed a small, isolated flame to spread across seven buildings and kill dozens.

“I think the cause of the fire is not so critical because the building is designed to handle random fire incidents – but it is not designed to handle such a fast fire spread outside the building, and eventually spread back into the building,” he said, pointing to similarities with the devastating 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in West London.

Several other experts voiced similar sentiments.

“While determining the source of ignition is going to be an important part of the investigation for the interest of the public, it is largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of this disaster,” said Anwar Orabi, a lecturer in fire safety engineering at The University of Queensland, who said he had lived in Hong Kong for several years.

“What matters most here is that the fire was able to spread beyond the spot and building where it started,” he added. “Many factors could have contributed to this, including the scaffolding, which may have provided a ‘highway’ for the fire to travel vertically, and a warm nest for embers from adjacent structures to ignite.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Karina Tsui contributed to this report.