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Fire in Zhongguancun

JDM071205fire1.jpg

Just before 4 this afternoon, a fire broke out at a construction site in Zhongguancun.

That area of town is fairly wired, so almost immediately there were eyewitness reports, photos, and video posted online.

The image here comes from a Baidu Posts thread with a number of other photos. From what information there is in the thread (the commenters are more interested in determining the location and identity of the photographer), it looks like the fire lasted for around half and hour.

One commenter reports:

I saw people running into the scene of the fire; I though that there were people still inside, but evenutally I saw that everyone was trying to save their blankets and things. I don't know what to say....

Here's a video uploaded to Youku by "djcase":

Thanks to Feng37 for the tip.

UPDATE (8:29): Xinhua has a report. The fire was in a 3-storey temporary dormitory. No one was injured.

 
There are currently 6 Comments for Fire in Zhongguancun.

Comments on Fire in Zhongguancun

how about a google map link for the location?

now is the winter season,so we should keep our eyes on our properties and beware of the things which is easy to catch fire.cuz the weather is relatively dry.

btw,what's the cause of this fire?just curious

Sure. Here's where it seems to be located.

As the report said, the place where caught fire is a dorm, maybe it just biult for those seasonal workers(or floating population). The problem is they almost earn little money and their families in remote poor village are looking forward to making a living with that.
That's why the blanket or sth like that is so important to them, even made them risk their lives...
That's the truth in China.
Alright, that's what I think or guess above.

But, sth else I don't understand is that why some peole in the high and clean office block seem to be so curious and apathic... talking about UFO, Camara and sth esle... oh,yes, maybe it wasn't their bussiness! The fire seems make their boring office life a little interesting?!
I still don't what to say...

Thx for reading.

When something like this happens there do strangers take up a collection to help these migrant workers or is looking the other way normal protocol?

There was a report in the Beijing Youth Daily that had a quote from a migrant worker who had just been paid but was unable to rescue his money from the burning dorm. The workers are being housed in a nearby guest house, and the source of the fire is still being investigated. Apparently it had something to do with the electrical supply (the power had been off all day, and the fire started as soon as it came back on), and became more damaging when gas canisters blew up. The workers are supposed to be compensated, but that's still being decided.

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