[quote author=redsun]Did i just hear fashola encouraging corruption by advising the people to give police coolers of rice?



You're not hallucinating. That is exactly what he was suggesting. It’s rather disappointing to read a statement like that from a lawyer and the chief executive of the state of Lagos.

yhellow: Eko baje ti

What does that mean in English?

naptu2: Oh by the way, about the ferry issue. . . . it's not just an issue for this bridge. Before you get to this section of Five Cowrie Creek you'll have to go beneath Five Cowrie and Onikan bridges and even if you are sailing from the other direction (the Lagos Lagoon) you'd need to sail beneath Eko, Carter and Third Mainland bridges before getting here.

I see your point.

I brought up the ferry issue because I read on this site sometime ago that the government is promoting this mode of public transport. I wish the city fathers of the past had been a bit more visionary about transportation around Lagos. If they had, the bridges crossing the waters in the city would have long spans and high clearances for free movement of large, passenger ferries.

jason123:


[img][/img]

The photographs are beautiful!

But for heaven’s sake, can they get rid of the black & white stripes? They make this beautiful structure look kitschy.

I can’t say I've read any of Mr. Achebe’s novels. We just weren't tuned that way when I was growing up. But I have read quite a bit about him in my adult years.

It’s heartening to see an outpouring of love and respect for him personally, and for his global achievements by his fellow litterateurs.

naptu2:

Answer (1) The people who live there! I had heard about this bridge years ago and when I first heard about it they said that the bridge would go from Lekki to Banana Island and then link the Third Mainland Bridge. That plan was shelved because Banana Island is home to some of the wealthiest and most powerful Nigerians who wouldn't want a bridge to run through their neighbourhood.

Similarly, Olateju Crescent (the piece of land you are referring to) is home to several (current serving) ministers, Generals and Admirals. It also has a thriving leisure and tourism business cluster and most of the businesses are owned by very wealthy people.

2) Much of the stretch of the bridge is too low for boats to sail under. However, the section that crosses Five Cowrie Creek (where the suspension tower is) is much higher than the rest of the bridge and I've seen (with my own eyes) Femi Otedola's yacht, which is one of the largest yachts in Lagos, sail underneath the bridge at that section.

Answer (1)

I had wondered as much.


Answer (2)

If large transportation ferries can run under the span that has the highest clearance, that would be excellent.

I have a question for those who live in Lagos or are familiar with the details of this project:

1) Was there any technical development that dictated the roadway running almost entirely on water when they could have put 3/4 of its entire span on the piece of land that juts into the water, and then cross the water over a shorter distance?

It seems to me a rather costly way to construct a roadway. I would have thought that the government and its private partner could acquire parcels of land from the roundabout in the bottom right of the photograph to cut across the peninsula and connect to the roundabout on the left over a shorter span of water. That could have shaved a significant amount from the cost of this project.

2) Why is the clearance over water so low? Wouldn't this prevent large ferries from traversing that body of water?


It’s a good project for Lagos, but I can’t help wondering if it could have been done differently.

ajalaolanr:

The whole place will crumble like a pack of cards. Are they not supposed to compact the land or let it settle for at least ten years to avert a disaster like liquefaction. Can some one educate my ignorance here?

Earth is usually made of stratified layers which vary in what civil engineers call soil stiffness. Generally, the deeper you go into the ground, the stiffer the soil tends to be, but not in all cases. This is why construction engineers drive piles to bedrock layer where the earth (or soil) stiffness will be sufficient to support the structure being constructed. The civil engineers on this project, I am sure, have done a geological analysis of the soil under the area and know how deep they will have to pile drive to bedrock layer. They will lay the foundation on those piles. Pile driving to bedrock layer is what allows engineers to build bridges over oceans as they had done over the Hangzhou Bay in China and I think one Scandinavian country (correction on the Scandinavian part, if you have better information).

I also believe that the planners of this project have built defenses against ocean incursion. I should also point out that this project is not being built in the ocean as they had done in Dubai. This is reclaiming land that was lost to sea erosion, so there should be some solid footing a few meters below the water level.

The other concern you raised is compacting of the soil. I believe the soil will compact under its own weight as time progresses and also when they start to lay the road network.

The issue of liquefaction is a valid concern. My understanding is that this is a phenomenon that occurs in an earthquake. I know that there is a seismic fault line that runs through the Nigerian city of Ibadan, but I do not know its geological mapping relative to Lagos. Ibadan has experienced earthquakes before, but I think they were relatively minor. If a sizable 5.0 or higher earthquake were to hit the Ibadan-Lagos axis, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.

If there is a civil engineer in the house, please chime in and correct me, if I am wrong.
 
 
_______________________________

I do have a few questions for you guys:

1) Does this project wipe out the Bar Beach area? I asked this question sometime ago, but I don’t think I got a response.

2) Are there open spaces such as public parks and recreational areas in the new city?

3) Will there be public museums, libraries and other public facilities in the new city?

Only-Rebel:

What you may not believe is that the architectural design of this building is brain baby of a Nigerian architectural firm.

 
 
Who is the architect? It would have been informative for us to learn that from you, don’t you think?

I thought it was designed by TAA, Tabet Atelier D'architecture of Lebanon.

 
I love the front-rear asymmetry of this design. It’s an effective way to break the rhythmic monotony that is all too common in high-rise buildings. I like the rooftop gardens, too. But I wish the designers had kept the frontal arch of the original design (the bottom photograph with the TAA tag). It’s a more dramatic visual statement than the subdued – perhaps more practical – version that will be built. Nonetheless, it’s a welcomed improvement over much of the architectural eyesores that make up the landscape in Lagos. The tonal (color) contrast hits the sweet spot, too.

Beautiful design!

ekt_bear:

^-- Thanks man, I'll check it out.


Btw, have you seen Fela? Or do you plan on seeing it? I'll be attending fairly soon. I've heard great things about it.
 

No, I haven't seen it. I don't know a lot about him other than what I read in books and the media. I wouldn't mind seeing it though, if it comes to the Bay Area.

Rossikk:


 

 
 
Rossikk,

What road is the fourth picture from the top. . .the one with the screaming red soil? Is it in Lagos?
I would love to roll down that road on my motorbike. Wheeling down a winding mountain road on a quiet Sunday morning is like going to church. Exhilarating!

ekt_bear:

^-- Cosign on scrapping of the monarchy.

 
 
I would not abolish the traditional rulers in African, which may come as a surprise to you. The Obas and Emirs (sorry, but I don’t know what the Igbo monarchy is called) are your links to the past and abolishing them will be pissing on your history and tradition. But to have 46 of them in a small city like Lagos is ridiculous and a waste of tax-payer’s money.

However, innovative thinking and approaches can make the monarchy fiscally self-funding.


_______________________________________________________________________

Diversion for ekt_bear:

I saw your post in the other thread. I would have responded, but I had enough of it.


If you’re interested in African Architecture, there is a very good book on the work of Nigerian architect, Demas Nwoko. My youngest one, the budding architect in the family, got this book as a birthday present from my aunt in the UK.

The architecture of Demas Nwoko
Authors: John Godwin and Gilian Hopwood
Publisher: Farafina, Lagos 2007
ISBN 978-978-068-843-9

Its not available on Amazon.com (US), but you can find it here:
[url=http://www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/Art_and_Photography_Nigeria.html&CatalogBody]http://www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/Art_and_Photography_Nigeria.html&CatalogBody[/url]
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Architecture-Demas-Nwoko-John-Godwin/dp/9780688439/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323463524&sr=1-1

Book review and a few photographs:
http://www.archiafrika.org/en/node/1230

aloy/emeka:

Stop saying rubbish sometimes. Show us proof that British taxpayers have an agreement to pay the royal family millions of pounds annually. If I recall very well, there are millions of Britons who still petition the idea of using their taxes for the upkeep of the Buckingham palace.

 

The British Parliament funds the British monarchy from the taxpayers' coffers. Since the British parliament represents the British people, the British people are in effect assenting to an arrangement to fund the Royal Household.

It’s a little bit of reading, but somewhere in the link below, it explains how the British monarchy is funded and how much of the royal household's expenses come from the taxpayers.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/Overview.aspx

Eko Ile:

Btw, this is Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia

An operating room with windows and light flowing inside the operating room.
[img]http://www.drexelmed.edu/obgyn/Labor_and_Delivery_Tour_files/slide0005_image010.jpg[/img]


http://www.drexelmed.edu/obgyn/Labor_and_Delivery_Tour_files/frame.htm


Where is all the stuff you listed?


Obviously looking at both pictures, they both have the same basic tools needed to deliver babies.

Eko Ile,

This is very typical of you. You picked up a photograph that seems to have an outside window, but you didn't or couldn't figure out that it is an inside window where other medical personnel could observe an operation. I’ve been to Cedars Sinai in Beverly Hills, CA to observe a hip replacement operation. One of the ORs I saw had windows just as the one shown. I even saw what I assumed to be medical students outside the OR conversing about the session going on inside.

Look. I don’t like to get into name calling with people. But I must say that you’re tasking my restraint.


ps: I wouldn't call the picture you posted as the best-equipped ORs I've seen and I've seen many ORs in my life. I've even seen ORs at Northwestern University's 's Medical School in Chicago.

 
_____________________________
I think I've had enough of this thread.

ziga:

Well, i can tell you are trying to be reasonable here.

But truthfully, we should be looking at the big picture and not pettiness.

The minor changes/ modifications that you suggested can be added on as time goes by and should by no means be a reason to sh.it all over the project like people have been trying to do.

Matter of fact. . .  Even the "best projects" in the world will have deficiencies pointed out by critics.

However, a true critic will still look at the big picture to be able to pass judgement and not judge based on a few petty issues!!!!

I can only assume that you know nothing about ceiling-mounted HEPA filters nor having to raise a ceiling such as the one in the OR. They are no trivial matter.

This is no minor building deficiency; this is an outright bad design. Any architect who cannot figure out that you need a sterile field in a modern OR should have his or her license to practice taken away.

Any architect who cannot figure out human scale relativity in architectural design should not be practicing architecture. Architects scale a room's ceiling to the function of the building and the capacity of occupants for which it is designed. The OR's ceiling is too low. The architect should have known that. Why are you people trying to defend a bad design?

Just for me to determine if I want to continue this conversation with you, could I ask you what your education is?

Eko Ile:


It's an intellect cop out and and gross ignorance to find faults where it doesn't exist and still refuse to offer any meaningful justification for the same sited faults.

Have you asserted before us what's below standard regarding this new hospitals?

Have you asserted to us with facts that this hospital is not equipped to successfully deliver babies?

Have you asserted to us that babies and mothers are dying at this new hospitals because it's below your so called standards

Have you been to this hospital and found out that they don't have the same globally accepted skills to deliver babies?

Have you even described  to us what is standard and substandard in your views and globally?


The fact is, it's very ignorant and unintellectual to criticize without offering any kind of meaningful factual reasons and justification for you are criticizing. It's called intellectual laziness and incompetence.  Doing things for no justifiable reason and inability to articulate any rational behind your objection means you can not be taken seriously and whatever you are spewing rests of other issues like hate.

Sinachay has already listed the deficiencies in the OR, but I'll reiterate.
__________________________________________________________

I’ve purposely refrained from criticizing the architecture, which in itself is another subject altogether. So, for now, I will stay with the operating room.

Operating Rooms generally should be windowless rooms where outside noise can be kept to a minimum. I certainly hope that they keep those windows closed at all times.

ORs, during operations, generate what is known is a sterile field around the operating table. The sterile field is a curtain of filtered air controlled by High Efficiency Particle Air filters (or HEPA filters to techies among you). Hospital-grade HEPAs can remove particles as small as .3 microns¹ or will allow so many of the said sized particles to pass through for every large volume of air. Techies sometimes refer to this as part per million or PPM. This OR fails falls short in that regard. All I see is a wall-mounted AC unit that will re-circulate airborne pathogens through its vents back into the OR.

If you’ve ever witnessed an operation (I’ve seen about 3 in my lifetime and that’s not counting the births of my children), you are asked to scrub and gown up (you wear the same type of smocks and booties doctors and nurses wear) before entering the operating room. Once you’re there, you must stay behind the sterile field and keep quiet. I do not see what creates the sterile field in the OR shown. I can only assume that C-sections are not performed in this hospital or they do C-sections without a sterile field.

Solutions I would propose:

1) block off all the windows. They will prove a distraction when the doctor is operating during rain storms and high winds. You don't really want lightning to distract the surgeon when he or she is operating on a patient, do you?
2) fix the sterile field issue by installing a roof ceiling-mounted HEPA system.
3) to accomplish 2), the ceiling may have to be raised. The ceiling of the OR seems a little too low to me. You can see that by looking at the relationship between the windows and the ceiling.

So, there you have it. I just gave you three basic fixes for the OR which really shouldn't take a genius to figure out.
 


Eko Ile,

The next time I criticize any of Fashola's projects, please ask me for what would be my solution. I will welcome that challenge.
 
 

¹ As a perspective for those who are not of technical bent, the diameter of human hair is about 40-90 microns, depending on race, health and age. So a 0.3 micron particle is very, very small.

Eko Ile:



Unfortunately, hate and sadness is a state of mind and some people just have to put that state of mind on display.

Imagine comparing Lagos with Chicago and SA, labeling a new and fully equipped hospital a make shift hospital. How shallow and ignorant can you be?

It's an intellectual copout to suggest that this is all about hate. This is about setting a higher standard for yourself and for your community.

I am always amazed at how deep some of you will dig for excuses to avoid any aspiration to higher standards. How do you expect to motivate your younger generation when you are readily accepting of mediocrity as your standard?

Gbawe:

Have you read what others are saying or do you just want to comment because you have pitched your tent blindly? Who is suggesting open wards for "pre-childbirth" or "pre-labor"? Do you even know what a hospital ward functions as to understand that medical screening/treatment must precede the case history of those who eventually end up on an "open ward"?  

I’ve seen the photographs and I can make my judgment based on what they show.

Gbawe:

Have you read what others are saying or do you just want to comment because you have pitched your tent blindly? Who is suggesting open wards for "pre-childbirth" or "pre-labor"? Do you even know what a hospital ward functions as to understand that medical screening/treatment must precede the case history of those who eventually end up on an "open ward"?  

I’ ve made no assertion as to any of the above. It could be pre-childbirth, pre-labor, or even postpartum medical care.

I don’t think I limited my definition of airborne diseases to highly infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Obviously, people with such infections are usually quarantined to keep them from infecting others. But airborne diseases are also influenza (or cold) or respiratory-tract infection to which pregnant women are highly susceptible. I’ve been through this pregnancy stuff three times in my life and anything I tell you about pregnant women is from experience, albeit from a man’s perspective.

Gbawe:

It is a shame Nairaland doctors have avoided this thread otherwise they will easily address the ignorance of some of you who speak because you think you are intelligent but are actually arguing out of positions of ignorance. Open wards are not cesspits of infection as you want us to believe . Everybody who goes into an open ward will have been medically assessed/treated before being admitted to that ward and it would have been established that they are generally safe to share space with others who are , ostensibly, without infectious diseases transmittable via air mainly.

 
 
The idea that patients are screened for every transmissible disease before going into open wards is a fabrication to support your position. The cost to screen every patient for every transmissible disease will be too prohibitive to make what you are suggesting feasible. Do you know anything about screening for diseases at all? We are talking x-rays, body-fluid tests and myriad other tests to ascertain that a patient is free of transmissible disease. The cost of preparing the assays to do these tests will be too high for even the UK, where they practice socialized medicine.

How do you ascertain that “. . . they are generally safe to share space with others who are , ostensibly, without infectious diseases transmittable via air mainly.”?

The only way to do this is to screen for every transmissible disease. As I said earlier, the cost to do this will be prohibitive. I know of no hospital in the US that practices this type of medicine.

Gbawe:

It is no different to all of us riding on very crowded underground transport in our respective diasporan base where the assumption is that everyone is safe. Hospitals are even much safer because every sick patient can be assessed , upon admission as per presenting symptoms, and treated/isolated adequately while any of us may be standing next to someone with tuberculosis or swine flu on public transport !!!  

This is flat out bad science.

The factual science is that we are all exposed to pathogens in daily life, but our immune systems destroy those pathogens before they can mutate in our cells. How much do you know about cell biology?

Gbawe:

The ignorance you guys peddle to support your position is shocking. You think a person with, for example, Tuberculosis or any other air-borne disease just goes on a public ward? How simplistic !! Ask any African who even so much as presents with malaria symptoms in the UK !!! You will be isolated ASAP.  Proactive hospital care is more to do with documenting admission symptom/history properly and trying to obtain accurate diagnosis so that, in an entire hospital, people are always in the right place appropriate for their medical care/needs .  

There is nothing , other than ignorance and a lack of knowledge about real medical care, that would make anyone think a private room for everyone in public healthcare , highly unfeasible in todays world , is the gold standard or that open wards are somehow inadequate. That is the height of ignorance considering that some of you should be bright enough to know that "open" ward , self explanatorily, indicates that everyone there is medically cleared to mingle "openly" with others in that ward same as we all interact with others when we go shopping, clubbing, dining out, etc , etc because we are deemed , by virtue of having no symtoms of illness or through securing curative treatment for an ailment, able to mingle with others "openly".  You guys talk out of total ignorance of healthcare procedures and all this is actually embarrassing. I can only conclude non of you have had kids or have even being in hospitals, in nations with decent health sector, that supply adequate healthcare to the general public. .

Gbawe,

I don't think you understand how the human body works, but I am going to refrain from calling you names.

No one who practices western medicine can medically clear you to "mingle "openly" with others in that ward same as we all interact with others when we go shopping, clubbing, dining out, etc , etc because we are deemed , by virtue of having no symptoms of illness or through securing curative treatment for an ailment, able to mingle with others "openly." unless that person is presented with your medical tests results for every transmissible disease. As I've said on a couple of occasions, it is not economically feasible to do so. What protects us from diseases more than curative medicine is OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM.

And just because you show no symptoms of a disease does not mean you don't carry that disease. Diseases can be dormant in humans long before they start to display any symptoms.

@Sinachay and Kobojunkie

I don’t think you are going to convince these guys that open wards in hospital design is a less-than-ideal layout for pregnant women in pre-childbirth, pre-labor, or even postpartum medical care. They are not looking at this through a scientific or logical lens.

It is a scientific fact that during pregnancy, a woman’s immune system is rendered slightly less effective compared to when she is not pregnant. Her immune system is lowered by her body so that her body will not reject the “foreign organism” that has just invaded it (yep, that is exactly how a woman’s body interprets pregnancy, for those of you who may not know). The slightly-lowered immune system tends to make pregnant women more susceptible to air-borne diseases than other times when they are not pregnant. Post-partum, women do regain the full effectiveness of their immune systems.

A hospital, even for people who are not pregnant, is one of the sickest places you could ever be. A crowded hospital is a breeding ground for pathogens that are happy have captive customers with whom they can do brisk business. Medical professionals sometimes advise pregnant women to avoid flying on airliners during the influenza season because the confined environment of an airliner is a large supermarket of airborne diseases.

The transmission of germs from patient to patient is one of the driving factors in designing hospitals with private rooms.

@Onlytruth,

Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail Mr. Ojukwu’s titles. I now have a better understanding of what “Ikemba” and “Dim” mean.

Thanks again.

I am sorry to see this man go. Everything I know about him is from history books on Nigeria and scholarly articles about the Nigerian civil war. He might still be alive today, if Nigeria had a hospital that could adequately deal with the cerebro-vascular condition that contributed to the decline of his health. Who knows what damage he might have sustained to his organs, when they had to fly him for over four hours to the UK for treatment?

RIP.

 
 
Question for you guys:

1) What does Ikemba mean?
2) What does "Dim" translate to in English? Is it a title?

Sinachay:


Gbam!
Thank you jare!
. . .

I've seen this word, "jare", in several responses. What does it mean?

I think Sinachay and Kobojunkie had it right and there is really nothing I can add other than a little comedic touch:

In the last scene of the movie, Amadeus, where Antonio Salieri is being wheeled away for breakfast, Salieri delivers one of the best lines in the movie when he mocked mocks himself and everything mediocre.

“Mediocrities everywhere: I absolve you. . .I absolve you”


This, here, is mediocrity.

I doubt that the news report quoted the governor accurately. Apart from the confidence that such a law would not hold up to a court challenge, it would be politically idiotic of the governor to assent to extortion to finance the state’s public safety apparatus ^[1]. I don’t think the governor would stoop to that level.

I would like to believe that the governor was referring to

1) Cases in which the landlord was found to have knowingly and willingly aided and abetted certain high-level crimes and the property in question was used, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the landlord, to commit or facilitate the crime.

2) Cases in which the landlord willfully profited from the illegal activities of his tenants, and the property in question was used, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the landlord, to commit or facilitate the crime.

3) Cases in which the landlord willingly colluded with tenants to commit a crime, and the property in question was used, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the landlord, to commit or facilitate the crime.

What is central in each instance is the utility of the property in question and acquiescence of the landlord to the perpetration of the crime. Generally, under forfeiture laws that I am familiar with, those two conditions have to be established before the government can confiscate a private property.


^[1] Conjecture based on this statement attributed to the governor:

“The method of crime in the state are getting complicated and security is not cheap. The only way is for the state government and the residents of the state to invest in this funds so that we can buy additional 500 patrol vehicles, 200 patrol bike, 20 Armoured Personnel Carriers."
 
 

Question for you guys:

What is a SAN? I don’t mean what the acronym stands for – which I know by now – but what is the significance of having SAN affixed to your name? Is it a qualification akin to a J.D, Ph.D., MD, PE or AIA (RIBA, if you speak British) for which you would have to pass an examination or complete a set of requirements?

I can't do a search right now, but I think the first man to commercialize the bi-directional vehicle concept was a Canadian gentleman whose company marketed it as a farm tractor.

What is so unusual – and laughable to some of you – about a bi-directional vehicle? They are common on farms in North America and Europe and come in form of tractors and, to a lesser degree, harvesters. Bi-directional farm vehicles have been around since the 70s although not as common as they are today. New Holland, Valtra, John Deere (I think) and a few other farm equipment manufacturers in Europe, Russia and China are players in this market.

The following links show the more refined and commercial implementations of the professor's bi-directional vehicle concept:

http://www.valtra.com/products/properties/1136.asp (click on the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcQKXhhS7iE
http://www.abcgroff.com/ag/nhtv.htm

What the professor built is known as a proof of concept (Aigbofa, A-zeb, Shyguy and texazzpete: I trust that you guys know what proof of concept is). I used to work in a research lab when I was in grad school. The senior scientists there would come up with a concept and task us in the hardware group with fabricating the proof-of-concept. The full time engineers in the hardware group would direct us to storage areas where we would cannibalize components such as turbo-molecular pumps, cryogenic pumps, vapor deposition chambers, motors, stabilizers and all kinds of stuff from inventory equipment to build whatever the senior scientists wanted.

We rookies were sometimes tasked with fabricating the chassis or platforms to mount the contraptions. I remember one time we built a platform made entirely of wood, which was rather curious because this was in a research lab devoted to high-brow physics. Some of the systems we built often resembled contraptions straight out of a Frankenstein movie. The full-time engineers in the hardware group often referred to our activities as “parts-bin engineering”.

ekt_bear:

Pifa, if you don't mind me asking, what is your background? At first I thought civil engineer, but you seem to know a lot about what I thought is more materials science.
.
.

 
 
My background is physics.

ekt_bear:

 

@Pifa: Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, I believe? But that column refers to money coming from the federation account (VAT [a sales tax in nigeria], port revenue, and oil.)

Muchas gracias.

By the way, have you been Cali-baptized yet?
(California baptism means you've experienced an earthquake, particularly a sizable one)

We had a few three pointers in the Bay Area a few weeks ago.

Jenifa_:

which one is silica sand. there are many different kinds of sand? some more flammable than others?

 
 
Sand is sand, whether it is called silica sand, crystalline silica sand, ground silica or any other generic or trademarked name. The most abundant component in sand is silica (silicon dioxide or SiO₂), the same material from which silicone, glass, quartz, computer chips, mortar, concrete, asphalt and a host of other products are made.

No grade of sand I know of is flammable. My apologies, if I confused you with the silica sand terminology.

Jenifa_:

something else is that the plastic bottles are filled with sand.
I think that's where some of the fire resistance comes from.

That is correct. Silica sand is not flammable and it will not auto-ignite.