To build such a skyscraper made of wood would be a remarkable feat of engineering and construction. My very first concern is that when all is said and done, wood is still flammable.
Why is someone ready to assume that risk, just to make history? When I was in the Navy, my first ship was a wooden one; a Minesweeper. It was small, at only 77 feet in length, and rendered somewhat safe by always floating on water.
No trees were killed.
McCormick Place was all steel and concrete.
Once the steel is heated, the strength goes down.
A flash fire can heat it quickly.
And legend has it that, the asbestos replacement does not adhere to the iron after a few years.
A flash fire may not ignite a large beam andthe sprinkler system will extinguish the fire before the loss of integrity.
Chicago has had a few fires in the old wooden building, they burn for days and do not collapse.
The building that was supposed to be fireproof and “outlast Rome’s glories” was consumed frighteningly fast. Smoke was reported by janitors at 2:05 a.m. on Jan. 16. By 2:30 a.m., when Fire Commissioner Robert Quinn arrived, he upgraded it to a five-alarm fire. Eighteen minutes later, he ordered the first special alarm.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-per-flash-mccormickplacefire-0205-20120205-story.html