All 626 residents evacuated after Monday night's massive fire at the China Central Television (CCTV) complex?in Beijing?went home Wednesday.
The fire involved a 30-story building that houses a nearly-completed luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, part of the new headquarters of the state television network, in the Chaoyang District in northeastern Beijing.
A fireman died and seven people, including six firemen and a construction worker, were injured in the fire.
About 600 firemen, along with 85 fire engines, fought the blaze that started at 8:27 p.m. Monday and was put out at about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
More than 600 people living in three residential buildings near the fire were relocated to 10 nearby hotels Monday night.
"We are now investigating the damage" to residences, said Gao Yonghong, a government employee in charge of community affairs in the area. "We will provide repairs free of charge if their doors, windows or water, power and heating facilities were damaged."
The fire was caused by fireworks. CCTV hired a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large festive firecrackers outside the hotel Monday night, the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival that ends the Lunar New Year holiday. Fireworks were allowed in downtown Beijing until midnight.
Those powerful fireworks should not have been set off without approval from the municipal government, said Luo Yuan, a spokesman and deputy chief of the Beijing Fire Control Bureau. Police had tried to intervene but were ignored.
Four camcorders recorded the fireworks display and the entire ignition process. People who ignited the fireworks are being questioned by police and remains of fireworks have been seized.
The western, southern and eastern external walls of the building were burned, but the major structure was not damaged, the spokesman said.
In addition to the hotel, the building houses a television studio and an electronic data processing center. The hotel and the data center were destroyed, but the studio and the northern external wall were saved by firemen.
(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2009)