19 October 2023
By Seungwoo Song
A fire that destroyed a 42-story skyscraper in Changsha, Hunan Province, China last year was started by cigarette butts, police said after conducting an investigation.
For the first time in 13 months, the Changsha Emergency Management Agency released the findings of the fire at the Changsha China Telecom building on September 16 of last year.
The investigation's findings indicate that cigarette butts thrown away caused corrugated cardboard piled up outside the building's seventh level to catch fire.
Authorities looked into the cause of the original fire, which was determined to be a variety of easily-burning goods stacked up outside on the building's 7th story.
Through the outside walls of the building, which are made of aluminum panels, the fire swiftly reached the 39th story. It was 218 m tall when it was constructed, making it the highest structure in Changsha's central business district.
Thankfully, no one was hurt since the firm turned off the electricity as soon as the fire started, but there was a direct loss of property valued at around 1.46 billion won (107903.17 United States dollars).
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