I believe the early accounts said yes, and no, respectively.
If that is the case I would think a malfunctioning fire suppression system more to blame than PE in the middle the of cladding they use. Even here we use wood and OSB to cheaply build apartments; they all are supposed to have a properly designed (and working) fire suppression system.
I do somewhat agree with the comments regarding saving the $10k for the non-flammable cladding, but my guess is that is not the only item that was "skimped" on, so what was $10k for one line item was probably much higher savings for a longer list of similar cuts. I'm not excusing it, but just adding an additional layer to the complexity of the situation.