Firefighters examining the remains of a fire that occurred inside a Jianwai Soho office on Monday. Photo: Wangzi

A fire that destroyed a Jianwai Soho office at approximately 4:30 pm on Monday was too high for hoses to be used, forcing firefighters to enter the building as office workers in neighboring rooms smashed glass windows to release the fire's dense smoke. No casualties were reported.

The Chaoyang fire brigade sent 19 engines to the office building at the Yintai center located near the southeast corner of the Guomao area. Firefighters put out the fire at 5 pm.

The office of a clothing company on the 25th floor of Building 6 was destroyed, said a firefighter who was at the scene.

A worker in a building opposite the burning room told reporters she saw paper packaging burning.

Dark smoke filled the 25th floor and a total of 15 square meters was burned, according to the firefighters.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but Xu Yang, a senior vice president for Soho China, developers of Jianwai Soho, wrote on his microblog that the fire had started from a short circuit in aging electrical wires that had been lacking in routine maintenance.

Global Times

Building 6. Photo: Wang Zi