Five Years Ago Today: The CCTV Hotel Tower Burns

Five years ago tonight (Sunday), the China Central Television (CCTV) hotel tower caught fire during an illegal fireworks display and burned, killing one firefighter. The blaze marked the end of a Year of the Rat that saw Beijing host the 2008 Olympics.

The fire began around 9pm when the fire started on the roof of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which had not yet opened for business. Reports conflict as to whether the fireworks display that caused the fire was actually on the hotel's roof, or whether a stray pyrotechnic from nearby revelers. Investigators indicated that the building's unique zinc alloy skin caught fire and burned, sending flames gradually cascading down the exterior of the building before igniting the interior.

GALLERY: CCTV on Fire

A hospitality industry source who watched the fire from near the site explained that the hotel's Rem Koolhaas-designed architecture actually contributed to the speed and size of the conflagration. With rooms for the hotels placed entirely on either side of a 90-meter-tall atrium, as soon as the roof burned through, the hotel became a giant chimney, funneling air to the fire, ultimately consuming the building. The fire was visible throughout the Central Business District (CBD). One firefighter was tragically killed, although it took as much as 90 minutes for fire trucks to respond to the fire.

When the fire started around 9pm, your correspondent happened to be having dinner at the China Grill on the 66th floor of the Yintai Center. Sometime before the main course arrived, we noticed what seem like flames on the roof of the CCTV hotel tower and the front of the building. Were they lighting up an Olympic symbol on the front of the building? But shortly afterwards, it was clear this was no celebration. The Beijinger local beer, wine, and spirits contributor and Beijing Boyce and Grape Wall of China founder Jim Boyce live-blogged the event as it happened, noting that initial reports about the CCTV building being on fire were incorrect, and following the fire's progress down the face of the building, accompanied by explosions, and after an hour and a half, the arrival of a fire brigade that sadly cost a life.

Huge crowds gathered on the west side of the Third Ring Road to watch the blaze, with those having access to nearby Fortune Plaza heading to their offices for an unrivaled view above street level. By midnight, the fire was under control, but a disaster like this in the commercial center of a city that had been in the global spotlight less than a year earlier was just the beginning of a political maelstrom that followed.

With fireworks inside the Fifth Ring Road only permitted in 2005 after a 13-year ban, many Beijingers thought the fire would mean the end of inner city pyrotechnic celebrations. However, municipal officials wisely understood there was no connection between the CCTV blaze and the average citizen's firecrackers. In 2010, fireworks sales continued without any additional restrictions.

While the fate of the building and those responsible hung in the balance, the charred hulk of the building remained at the side of the Third Ring Road, standing like an upright shipwreck, a reminder of a night gone wrong and a situation unresolved.

Ultimately, in 2010, 20 people were sentenced to jail terms for the fire, with Xu Wei, who had been the head of CCTV's construction department (no connection to the rock musician of the same name) receiving a seven-year jail term, and others getting between three and six years.

But worst of all, five years later, the hotel is still not open, and even the CCTV's iconic "Pants" building has not yet become fully occupied by the broadcaster. Five years later, although the Mandarin Oriental nameplate has been returned to an eastern entrance to the building, no guests are booked, and while the Asian chain's Shanghai hotel opened in August, the Beijing property still doesn't have a launch date. The chain's website indicates a Taipei site underdevelopment, but no mention of Beijing.

How long until this scar is healed?

Photos: the Beijinger, BBC, Steven Schwankert/True Run Media