A blaze swept through a wholesale mall in west Beijing, taking firefighters five hours to extinguish it on Friday morning (October 11).<br/> <br />Smoke was seen rising from the charred steel structure, and firefighters were still hosing down the four-storey building as of 11 a.m. local time (0300 GMT).<br/> <br />The fire first broke at a McDonald's restaurant, on the second floor of the Xilongduo garment and small commodities wholesale market at around 3 a.m. local time on Friday (1900 GMT on Thursday, October 10), state television CCTV said.<br/> <br />Flames spread through the entire building with 49 fire engines dispatched to the site, CCTV said.<br/> <br />Police cordoned off the shopping mall and blocked roads surrounding it to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings, it added.<br/> <br />No casualties have been reported and the cause of the fire remains unknown.
