Absurdity, Allegory and China

From Caijing Online, some thoughts on the fire at the TVCC.

Fire Report Issued by CCTV

The TV station’s report found that the fire was limited to the insulation under the titanium alloy, damaging only the surface of the high-rise.
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A Chinese architecture expert, however, doubted some details in the report, saying, “It is unbelievable that the equipment inside is unharmed.”

What sparked TVCC?

Firefighters suspect that two professional grade fireworks struck the tower’s south side, burning through the thin metal wall and sparking the flammable insulation layer underneath, which then carried the fire over the entire building.

Several architects who helped design the CCTV complex suggested a slightly different possibility. After visiting the site and carefully surveying video and photos of the tower burning, they suspect the fireworks set flame to the tower’s exterior at several points. The flames continued from there to the insulation layer underneath, and then inside the building where interior decorations spread them further.

Heat transfer alone may have set fire to the building, said another architect who took part in the design of the TVCC. The reinforcing bars that cover the TVCC are metal and could have become superheated from the nearby explosions. If they became hot enough, said the architect, they could have kindled the insulation.

Once the fire caught, the hollow core between the fifth and twenty-sixth floors of the TVCC may have accelerated the burn. Moving air in this space would have provided the fire with ample oxygen creating a chimney effect, with pressure from the smoke, fire and hot air building inside this “chimney” until finally it exploded outward, carrying the fire through the whole building in the blink of an eye.