Previous and related:

Hong Kong's Famous Bamboo Scaffolding Hangs on (For Now) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44080549 - May 2025 (65 comments)

Bamboo Scaffolding in Hong Kong - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42820011 - Jan 2025 (3 comments)

Why Hong Kong uses bamboo scaffolding, and meet the spider-men who climb it - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42665355 - Jan 2025 (2 comments)

Light bamboo scaffolding seems incapable of supporting an intense or long-lasting fire. I'm thinking the critical failure was poor fireproofing on the buildings' exteriors - similar to London's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire