The gripping footage of his escape from the five-storey timber frame building site on Tuesday was captured by a shocked eyewitness.

The footage of the blaze ripping through the multi-storey timber frame building under construction delivers another damaging blow to the construction system.

Although the blaze tore through a massive project in Houston, there have also been serious fires at UK timber frame residential sites under construction.

The timber frame industry has responded with a code of practice to protect against fires when timber frame is at it most vulnerable during construction.

But the insurance industry has raised concerns about timber-frame use after catastrophic fire losses.