Fire Crews Battle Blaze at High-Rise Building in China's Dalian City

A fire broke out and spread through “exterior wall materials” on a high-rise residential building in China’s northeastern city of Dalian, in Liaoning province, on Thursday, August 27, prompting a large emergency response, local officials said.

The Dalian Fire-Rescue Department said it was alerted to the blaze at Block B of the Kaixuan International building just after 4 pm, and had dispatched 366 firefighters and 68 fire trucks to the scene.

Numerous eyewitness videos circulated online showed flames engulfing large sections of the building.

According to Chinese state media, no casualties had been reported. Shanghai Daily reported that the fire started in an apartment on the 19th floor, and that the occupant had alerted the property management.

Fire crews deployed a 101-meter (331-foot) elevated platform to douse flames at higher levels of the building, video from the fire department showed, while a camera-mounted drone was flown up to observe progress. Further video showed beams from firefighters’ flashlights as they worked to extinguish the remains of the fire on upper levels of the building, the department said.

Just after 9.30 pm local time, the fire department said “the fire on the top floor” was under control. At 10 pm, it said there was “no visible fire on the outer wall on the northeast side of Block B.”

At 11 pm, the fire department said the fire had been extinguished. Credit: Dalian Fire Rescue Dept via Storyful