• Question: Wouldn't Forest Green Rovers' new stadium be a fire hazard as it is rumoured to be made from wood?

    Asked by LDM076 to Chris, Gina, Tom, Yetty on 22 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Christopher Bullock

      Christopher Bullock answered on 22 Jun 2017:

      Firstly, isn’t it fantastic that Forest Green made it into the league!

      I know fire is on everyone’s mind with what happened in London but building out of wood isn’t inherently dangerous – it should be encouraged because in many cases it is the most environmentally friendly option (depends where the wood comes from). Good engineering design can make buildings fire safe regardless of what material they are made from – there are many ways to treat wood to make it fire-resistant for example. The issue in London was that the fire safety hadn’t been properly engineered into the building. I don’t know the specifics of the new stadium but if it has been well designed it will be perfectly safe.

    • Photo: Tom Rooney

      Tom Rooney answered on 22 Jun 2017:

      Following on from Chris’s excellent points, it’s generally not the building material that causes fire hazards (dangerous cladding choices notwithstanding) it’s litter and debris that do. Wooden buildings are indeed treated with materials to make them safe and it would take a considerable fire to cause the structural pieces to burn.
      The trick is to prevent a fire getting that big.
      In the 80s a wooden football stadium in Bradbury (i believe) did indeed suffer a fire and many people were injured or (tragically) killed. The fire was started because months of litter, debris and dust had been allowed to accumulate under the seats and around the stadium walls. A discarded cigarette ignited a small fire which spread rapidly and grew in to a much larger fire fueled by the litter. The hot gases collected under the stadium roof as people tried to escape until they eventually mixed with the outside air causing a huge flash over. It was this that caused the most injuries and deaths, by that stage the wooden structure was not yet alight… although it did succumb to the immense heat and burnt down.
      Lessons were learned from this and modern fire regulations, building regulations and careful design of new stadiums make this far less likely to occur again.
      Just remember… take your litter home, or put it in the bin. It’s not just the environment that suffers from waste 😉

    • Photo: Yetunde Kolawole

      Yetunde Kolawole answered on 22 Jun 2017:

      Hi LDM,
      I think Chris and Tom have you covered. You can have fire resistant wood after it’s been treated. If that is what has been used to build the stadium, it’ll be safe.

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