As I write this, a huge building that is part of the iconic CCTV tower here in Beijing is going up a flames. Early reports lean heavily to fireworks being the cause and it isn't hard to believe.
It is not quite 11pm and the sounds outside resemble what best can be described as a war zone.
This is the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, called in English "The Lantern Festival" and it is also (until midnight) the last time fireworks can be discharged in the city legally.
If this is anything like years gone by, the sounds, smoke and lights will end sometime after dawn.
It is not the two legged main tower structure (thankfully) that has gone up, but rather (sadly enough) the hotel/recording studio building that is part of the complex.
At its worst, flames shot several hundred feet into the air and were visible for miles.
It is hard for anyone who has never lived over here and seen it first-hand to understand just how seriously the Chinese take their fireworks. They light them off with a celebratory recklessness that has always left me stupefied as to how more aren't seriously injured and more property damage isn't done.
However this year has seen far more than its fair share of fire trucks racing off to a variety of locations within my general view. My new apartment is much more centrally located here in Beijing and it has left me feeling simultaneously happy to see the fireworks at their best (when they light up the night sky as if day and make the closing of Disneyland look like some high school production) and their worst (as people have been injured and even vehicles have gone up in flames).
But now this.
This will be hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. And it will no doubt see a return to the ban on fireworks within the city year-round. The ban had been tried in the past, but was lifted in 2006 under great public pressure.
However, now this year with so much damage and so much loss, it will be no too hard to sell to the general public the need for some sort of restraint.
For my part, I will miss the fireworks if the ban does come through. They are truly something to watch. Having said that, I do admit that this year left me more nervous than in years gone by as people seemed quite careless with their use of them.
Tonight, driving back from dinner with the in-laws is a perfect example. I had to swerve out and pass a car in front of me, since I no longer wanted to be behind the idiot who had a passenger lighting fireworks and tossing them out the vehicle as he drove down the street.
Not to mention the night a while back, when I was at a KTV bar with friends (Karaoke) and another bright bulb lit off fireworks in one of the closed rooms to celebrate his friend's birthday. Hearing recently of a nightclub fire (for the exact same reason - indoor use of fireworks) which resulted in tragic loss of life, I guess I will have to reluctantly admit that for some people at least, common sense is apparently neither.
I have just gotten off the phone with CTV's National News Desk, the did an over the phone interview with me about what I could see and hear from here.
I wish there was some way to attach sound to this and that way you could hear what I am hearing, but they told me the sounds of the explosions were very audible during the phone interview.
Its too bad something with so much potential for fun has now turned into something so costly. I only hope when the news finally gets through all told, that no one lost their lives tonight. If there was anyone on the upper floors of that building, it will be hard to imagine how they got out. The building went up in flames with astonishing speed.
Sad, truly sad.