Police in Shanghai have detained eight people for unlicensed welding believed to have started a catastrophic fire on Monday that left at least 53 dead and scores in hospital.
The blaze that engulfed the 28-storey city centre building stunned Shanghai and raised questions about the mainland business capital's preparedness to fight big fires in high-rise buildings.
Shanghai fire chief Chen Fei faced tough questioning at a special press conference yesterday evening to explain why it had taken more than four hours to get the fire under control, and the apparent inadequacy of firefighting equipment in reaching the upper floors of the building.
'This [period of] four hours is sufficient to explain that the level of difficulty in firefighting in high-rise buildings is different from ordinary buildings,' he said. 'The high-rise building contained a lot of combustible materials, [creating] a large fire load. The building's residents included a lot of elderly, children and people with difficulty walking... This greatly increased the difficulties faced by firefighters battling inside the building.'
Chen said the 'large amount of flammable nylon webbing' surrounding the scaffolding that encased the building - a common sight in Shanghai - was one of the main reasons the fire spread so quickly.
However, he admitted the department had failed to deploy a new engine capable of fighting fires at heights of more than 300 metres - one that had recently been the subject of a high-profile demonstration.
