A video of a fire inside the internet-famous building in Hangzhou, Zhejiang – the Le Crystal International Apartment Building has been circulating on social media recently. This marks the second fire incident in 5 years at this massive apartment building known as the “Number One Floating Building in Hangzhou”.
On the evening of September 15th, a netizen posted on social media claiming: “Hangzhou’s Le Crystal International Building is on fire!”
According to a report by “Hangzhou Traffic 918”, the poster Mr. Liu (pseudonym) mentioned that when the incident occurred, he was working in an office nearby. He stated, “It was around 5:55 pm, a colleague suddenly shouted, ‘The building across the street is on fire!’ I quickly looked through the office window and could see flames at the lower part of the Le Crystal International Building.”
Several netizens in the comment section of the post shared videos and pictures they captured at the scene, with some claiming to live nearby.
A video from the scene shows flames bursting from a balcony, thick smoke billowing, and occasional burning objects falling down. Photos also reveal flames coming out from an external balcony at a height of eight to nine floors, with thick smoke rising upwards.
Reported by “Qianjiang Evening News”, Mr. Wu, a resident of Le Crystal International, stated that on the afternoon of September 15th, the building did catch fire for real. Another tenant mentioned that the fire occurred on the 8th floor, and the cause of the fire was unclear; after the fire was extinguished, that floor had been cordoned off.
Around 7:00 pm on September 15th, the Hangzhou Fire Department reported: around 5:50 pm on September 15, 2026, a fire broke out in a room on the 8th floor of 2327 Hongning Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou. Through the address search, it was confirmed that 2327 Hongning Road is indeed the location of Le Crystal International Apartment.
Reported by “Qianjiang Video”, on September 16, a staff member from Le Crystal International mentioned that Building 1 has 36 floors, and Building 2 has 39 floors. The residents here are mostly office workers. Another worker in Building 2 stated that based on registration of floating population residents, there are approximately seven to eight thousand people living here. Regarding the fire incident, the staff suggested it might have been caused by the actions of a tenant.
A prominent blogger named “Sly Black Cat Thief” expressed concerns in a post, questioning what would happen if the fire had started a few floors higher where the water cannon cannot reach (the effective spraying height of a regular fire truck is approximately 6-10 floors)? This marks the second fire incident at Le Crystal International in Hangzhou within 5 years, raising worries about its fire safety risks.
Located on the bank of the Qiantang River, the Hangzhou Le Crystal International Building used to be a mixed-use complex in the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Plate had been referred to as the “Internet Celebrity Building in Hangzhou” due to its many live-streaming e-commerce professionals residing there.
Reported by “Shangguan News” last year, Building 2 of Le Crystal International has 39 floors and 1594 units. As the units were initially delivered unfinished, coupled with early owners purchasing at low prices for investment and then subletting to second landlords who further divided the units into multiple smaller ones, even converting lofts into a dozen or more rooms for rent. At its peak, nearly 20,000 access cards were distributed for the building. This resulted in issues such as overcrowding, mixed business types, and safety hazards escalating on social media.
As reported by “The Paper” in March this year, in 2021, a sudden fire at Le Crystal International Apartment Building caused extensive damage inside the posh building, creating a stir once the incident was disclosed. Some residents evacuated without even having time to put on their shoes, fleeing downstairs in just their socks.