Design and Architecture
Fire safety in high-rise towers
The exact cause of the fatal blaze that consumed London's Grenfell Tower in the Borough of Kensington is not yet known, but the findings will be closely watched by fire safety experts, designers and builders worldwide. That includes in Los Angeles where new high-rise towers are under construction, and some older towers are being retrofitted.
By Frances Anderton • • 1 min readThe exact cause of the fatal blaze that consumed London's Grenfell Tower in the Borough of Kensington is not yet known, but the findings will be closely watched by fire safety experts, designers and builders worldwide. That includes in Los Angeles where new high-rise towers are under construction, and some older towers are being retrofitted.
Grenfell Tower fire, June 14, 2017
Photo by Natalie Oxford
To find out more, DnA turned to Nathan Wittasek. He is a former fireman, now a fire protection engineer who has consulted on many high rises including Wilshire Grand, LA's tallest building which opens later this week. He talks about cultural attitudes to fire prevention, the challenges of retrofitting older towers, and lessons learned from past disasters that have made US towers much safer.
