Local Roofing Expert Weighs In On How The NW OKC Fire Spread Across The Building

All eyes were on the roof of the Canton Apartments Tuesday night. 

It raised questions about whether the roofing material was fueling the flames. 

News 9 reached out to CMS Willowbrook, the construction company for Canton Apartments, and they confirmed with News 9 the roofing material is TPO, which stands for Thermoplastic Polyolefin. It is comprised of multiple materials but is largely plastic. 

Some have confused it with EPDM roofing, which is a synthetic rubber roofing membrane. 

Matt Morgan, president of Scissortail Roofing and a local expert in construction management, explains the material. 

"The TPO Material is a rolled single ply membrane, and it is hot welded," Morgan said. "The seams are hot welded at 1100 degrees; it is used to high heat, but it's not used to high heat with a flame." 

Morgan says the material on the roof of the Canton is just as flammable as what's on other roofs. 

"Anything that gets that hot is going to burn," Morgan said. "It's a matter of how hot the fire gets when it hits the system." 

He says any material would have had a similar result. 

"It doesn't really matter what roofing system it is on a building of that type. 

Morgan also said the apartment complex was a wood structure, which is very common.  

"Once the wood underneath catches fire," Morgan said. "There's nothing to stop the entire roofing system from catching on fire as well."  

Morgan says he's not sure what could've been done to prevent the fire in this specific case. 

Generally, he recommends installing an additional fire proofing. 

"They would need to put some kind of Durock system underneath the wood decking and then the Durock over the top of the insulation board," Morgan said. "It would slow the spread of the fire over to the roof." 

The Oklahoma City Fire Department says a second roofing material, a foam-like substance, may have also contributed to the spread of the fire. 

The company developing the Canton Apartments issued a statement about the fire, saying it'll cooperate with all investigations into the fire and thanked first responders. 

You can read the full statement below:  

 Hines is the owner and developer of The Canton at Classen Curve, which was developed in a joint venture partnership with Oklahoma City’s Humphreys Capital. Hines and Humphreys Capital issued the following statement regarding a fire which took place the evening of Feb. 8, 2022. 

 “We would like to thank the Oklahoma City Fire Department and other agencies for their rapid actions. We are grateful no injuries have been reported. Our general contractor, CMSWillowbrook, is responsible for the site and coordinating with local responders. We will fully cooperate with authorities during their investigation into the cause of the fire.”