A blaze that destroyed a 197-unit apartment building in St. Louis, Mo., displacing 250 residents, led the city’s fire chief to question the materials used in the construction of the four-story building.
The structure was built to code, had working sprinklers, and "draft stops" to slow the spread of fire. But Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson was still concerned by how quickly the fire moved through the attic. In particular, he questioned the use of “lightweight, synthetic materials” instead of brick and real wood.
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