Actually, the use of wood and situations of heat/fire is actually largely misunderstood by the main populace. What else is new here ?

For example, Firefighter prefer buildings with timber trusses over steel ones. The reason being simple. It will take a very long time for a thick timber truss to burn through enough to fail. Steel and aluminium versions can weaken and bend or fail within minutes.

This effect is caused by the fact that wood chars up on the outside isolating the untounched timber on the inside and the fact that timber is largely insensitive to heat and conducts heat very badly.

Basically the core of the thick truss remains largely unaffected for long times of directed heat influx.

Metals conduct heat very well and will soften up quickly when heated up. As soon as they have heated up they will deform, bend and break bringing down the roof or walls.

The fact that Timber trusses need to be much thicker then the steel variants in order to carry the same loads actually increases this difference in behaviour favouring the timber trusses even more from the perspective of maintaining integraty under fire.

Someone said to me several years ago. "If wood was discovered today then it would mean a revolution in material use."

And it is indeed a largely misunderstood material.

Wouter