CCTV on fire

UPDATE
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From the Fire Department

官方公布：央视擅自燃放礼花引起火灾

　　北京市消防局副局长、新闻发言人骆原2月10日表示，市消防局通报，中央电视台北配楼工地火灾是业主单位不听治安警察劝阻，执意违法燃放烟花造成的。

　　北京兴建中的央视新建大楼北配楼附属文化中心及酒店2月9日晚发生大火，焚烧近六小时，于凌晨2时左右大致救熄。

　　火场是正在兴建的文华东方酒店，当时没有人，但一名消防员救火时，吸入有毒气体，抢救后不治，另外有5名消防员及1名央视员工受伤，中心内有10多层倒塌。当局初步查明，有人违规燃放烟花引起火警。

　　骆原表示，9日晚，中央电视台雇用了湖南某烟花公司，擅自在失火大楼西南角空地燃放了数百枚礼花弹，这些礼花弹属于Ａ类烟花，燃放必须经过北京市政府批准。骆原表示，整个燃放经过有4台摄相机进行跟踪拍摄，目前燃放人员和礼花弹箱体已经被警方监控并取证。首先失火位置还在调查中。

　　骆原又说，据初步勘测，火灾造成北配楼外立面受损严重，大楼西、南、东侧外墙装修材料过火。火灾未造成主体结构的损坏。他说，由于大楼的装修刚进入尾声，灭火设施不完善，因此施救高度只能达到98米，因而造成当时灭火困难。

　　骆原说，指挥中心在9日晚8时27分接到火警后，迅速调派27个中队、85辆消防车、595名消防赶赴现场。至10日凌晨2时，大火被全部扑灭。大楼整体面积为10.3万平方米，部分面积过火，具体情况正在核实中。当局10日继续封锁现场附近街道，并派驻解放军及警察把守，禁止民众走近。

　　天亮后，可以看到中央电视台的文化中心大楼损毁严重，大楼不少窗框被烧毁，外墙严重熏黑，而覆盖大楼外中间部分的支架，更明显看见有裂痕。当局仍然封锁现场一带的路面，令原来交通繁忙的道路更为挤塞。而北京文华东方酒店发出的声明指，新酒店大楼起火时，他们60名员工全部都不在大楼内，并没有人受伤。至于火警时，大楼内有否其它的建筑工人，集团暂时未清楚。

　　新中央台旁边的酒店大楼由文华东方管理，他们并无拥有股份。酒店原定于今年下季开幕，现时仍在评估会延迟多久开幕。

　　当局启动应急预案，在现场设置应急指挥中心，市委书记刘淇、市长郭金龙、央视台长赵化勇赶到现场指挥扑救。

　　目击者指，有人在附近放烟花，火花落到工地楼顶，触及易燃的防水材料，引发火警，且楼内不断传出爆炸声。事发是元宵节，市政府容许市民在今年春节期间燃放烟花爆竹的最后一日。在起火大约3个多小时后，建筑物外面的火基本扑灭，消防员转而控制建筑物内部的火势，工地的主体结构没有受到严重影响。火场距离中央电视台新大楼约200、300米，大楼未受到火警影响。救火期间，警方实施交通管制，封闭附近的地铁站。

　　事故造成七名消防员一死六伤。现场总指挥闫勇表示，死亡消防员的名叫张建勇，今年30岁，为消防队红庙中队指导员，零时1时40分左右因抢救无效死亡。闫勇表示，面对大火浓烟，他在现场不但英勇指挥且投身救活，还在紧急时刻摘下自己的防毒面具给现场需要人员。

　　其它6名伤员，朝阳医院表示，有两名伤情较重，但无生命危险。另外3名，有一位是央视大楼物业管理人员，治疗后已自行离院；其它2名消防，病情稳定。


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Some picture of the aftermath and about the deceased firefighter's story on sohu.

(via danwei) Now the police acknowledged/confirmed it was the "Class A" firework approved by CCTV itself which started this and CCTV issued an "apology" (and a photo from the East side, which was damaged much worse -- fire on the west side were weakened after 2130 and there was another series of explosion about 3/4 in height to the SE side)


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央视网消息：记者从北京市消防局了解到，央视新址北配楼火灾是由于业主单位的人不听民警劝阻执意燃放A类烟花所致。北京市公安局消防局副局长、新闻发言人骆原在今天举行的新闻发布会上说，当时业主单位在配楼的西南角空地用玻璃钢管施放A类烟花，这类的烟花与北京奥运时燃放的烟花类似，是用电脑控制的。烟花燃放的经过及致使配楼着火的部位等仍在调查之中。

据介绍，由于大楼的装修刚进入尾声，灭火设施不完善，再加上消防部门现有装备灭火能力最高只能达到九十多米，因此造成当时灭火困难。

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央视网消息：2月9日晚20点27分，位于北京市朝阳区东三环的中央电视台新址在建附属文化中心工地发生火灾。2月10日上午，经北京市消防局调查证实，这次火灾是由于工程项目业主管理单位中央电视台新台址建设工程办公室主要负责人未经请示批准，擅自雇佣人员，违规燃放烟花酿成的。

火灾给国家财产造成严重损失，中央电视台深感痛心，给周边群众造成交通拥堵和生活不便，中央电视台表示真诚的道歉。

此次火灾仍在进一步调查之中，中央电视台将全力配合有关部门处理好后续相关事宜。

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This video showed very clearly how the fire started on the rooftop, you can see how high the firework went up to and how the building was "within range" of all fireworks, when the heart shaped (or elliptical, depending on your POV) fireworks were seen, you can see clearly large pack of smoke started on the rooftop. This was exactly what I witnessed as well, it was perhaps a couple minutes after the fire started. (I watched from a high floor and saw the fire before the smoke got big) -- more video links of how it started via B&W Cat
The person who took this video seems to be located on the NNE side of the building
(in china - on youku)

(outside china -- on youtube)


The aftermath -- looks like the structure is still there, despite a couple blasts last night. it is hard to see from this picture, but there are clear fire scars on the surface of the structure)
Fire started somewhere a bit to the left (north) of the small spire on the rooftop




The CCTV complex -- firework was set on the drive path between the main building and the "annex" (the one that was burnt). the fireworks were shot to about 50-60 stories high and explode into large spheres of smaller fireballs, radii of the spheres are about twice the width of the annex/hotel building -- which can now be seen by the video above)


On a clear day last summer (courtesy of my friend)


taken at 20.58om - started as small fire on the roof top, by 20:45 to 20:50 the roof started to collapse and fire spread to about 10 floors down to the hall (perhaps the hotel lobby). it took only a few minutes for the fire zone to multiply, showing that there are quite some flammable matters on the building


taken at 21:18pm - about the time of the first explosion


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I was at a friend's apartment watching firework. As you probably know, fireworks are uninterrupted form all directions during Yuan Xiao in Beijing. However, those from the CCTV complex trumps all, they are 3 times bigger and 3 times higher! The traffic on East 3rd Ring soon went to a halt as drivers stops by the roadside to watch this spectacular show.

It started as splendid firework, unfortunately the wrong place was chosen for the show. The space between the 2 tower in the CCTV construction site (where the fireworks were set off) was just not open enough and fireballs often bounces on the glass wall of the "lesser tower"/"tower II"/Annex (the full name for that building is actually TVCC - TV Culture Center, which will host the studio, concert hall and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel). I got a bit worried watching that.

About 20 minutes into the show (about 820-825pm), a small fire was seen on the top of the tower, apparently due to one of the fireballs from the firework show. OMG! The firework shot to about 50-60 stories high, about 5 stories higher than the lesser tower but lower than the top of the main tower (the assymmetric boxer tower 大裤衩).

Fire trucks arrived in about 5-10 minutes, but it seems that they were unable to reach the top of the building. Had there been helicopter with water bomb, the fire could have been put out easier at that time. Otherwise, if there was water supply to the roof, things would also be easier.

Unfortunately, it seems the fire at the roof was not (or could not be) taken care of. By about 20:50 the fire lost controls, the roof started to collapse and starts to spread to lower floors. Then I knew it was over for this beautiful building. What a shame. 

At some point I wooried that there might be a WTC style collapse, especially when there were at least two major explosion between 2100 and 2200.

There would be very strict rules on fireworks next year -- need to be set on completely open space, not close to any building. This is what it should have been. Instead, many people did it on the roadside, or on the road, or just next to the buildings.

p.s. the fire seems to be under control by 2230pm, about 2 hours after it was started.

p.s.2. the fire was surely started by one of the fireballs from the firework show (see illustration on google satellite photo above). and it was almost certain that it was CCTV internal people who did the firework show, since those were the most expensive type of firework not seen anywhere else in Beijing tonight. I expect someone within CCTV will be punished.

p.s.3. you may have seen some photo with white spots on top of the fire, that was taken around the time the explosions happened.

p.s.4 The TVCC is 44 stories and 159 meter tall, the CCTV main (asymmetric) building is 234 meter tall.the firework shot to around 180-200 meters and it was much closer to TVCC. The whole complex cost 5bn RMB to build, which makes the TVCC perhaps around 1bn RMB, not including equipments inside, which was said to cost in the billions.

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Class A/B/C/D fireworks

人民网科技北京2月10日电 据新华社消息，北京市公安局消防局副局长、新闻发言人骆原在十日举行的新闻发布会上说，央视新址北配楼火灾是由于业主单位不听民警劝阻执意燃放A类烟花所致。

　　骆原说，当时业主单位在配楼的西南角空地用玻璃钢管施放A类烟花，这类的烟花与北京奥运时燃放的烟花类似，是用电脑控制的。骆原说，烟花燃放的经过及致使配楼着火的部位等仍在调查之中。骆原说，燃放现场有监控录像，一切物证目前均由公安部掌握。骆原说，由于大楼的装修刚进入尾声，灭火设施不完善，因此施救高度只能达到九十八米，因而造成当时灭火困难。

　　烟花爆竹的四个级别

　　依照国家标准，烟花爆竹被划分为四个级别，危险性从高到低依次为A、B、C、D。上市的所有烟花爆竹产品都会在外包装上明确标注A、B、C、D等级。

　　北京确定，五环路内将只允许销售和燃放C、D类烟花爆竹。五环路以外则以C、D级品种为主，在旅游度假村等室外大的开放空间可燃放B级品种。

　　A级：适应于由专业燃放人员燃放，在特定条件下燃放的产品。

　　B级：适应于室外大的开放空间燃放的产品，当按照说明燃放时，距离产品及其燃放轨迹25米以上的人或财产不应受到伤害。

　　C级：适应于室外相对开放的空间燃放的产品，当按照说明燃放时，距离产品及其燃放轨迹5米以上的人或财产不应受到伤害。对于手持类产品，手持者不应受到伤害。

　　D级：适应于近距离燃放，当按照说明燃放时，距离产品及其燃放轨迹1米以上的人或财产不应受到伤害。对于手持类产品，手持者不应受到伤害。

　　北京市规定：A级产品曾禁止在全市销售和燃放

　　北京自2006年春节实行烟花爆竹“禁改限”制度。2005年11月北京市烟花办即公布了北京市允许销售、燃放烟花爆竹的品种和规格。

　　据介绍，结合北京市实际情况，在广泛调查研究、征求专家意见、进行烟花爆竹样品演示的基础上，确定北京允许销售、燃放烟花爆竹的品种共计650个，分为喷花类、旋转类、吐珠类、爆竹类、组合烟花类等7种规格。

　　按照《烟花爆竹安全与质量》等国家标准，烟花爆竹分A、B、C、D4个等级。此次公布的燃放原则为：A级产品禁止在全市销售和燃放；B级组合烟花类、喷花类、旋转类产品以及带升空效果的多响（含双响）爆竹仅允许烟花爆竹专营单位配送给确定的燃放点有组织地燃放，其他地区不得销售和燃放；五环内只允许燃放安全距离为5米之内的C、D级的喷花类、旋转类、吐珠类、爆竹类产品。

　　此外，为保障人身财产安全，燃放时含有金属漂浮物，排放有毒物质的烟花爆竹将禁止销售和燃放；总装药量超过1500克的组合烟花产品也在不许燃放之列。