On February 4,1974, the Capital Building, the newest building ha Sao Paulo, was destroyed in a big fire. The fire was started on the 11th floor. Soon the whole floor was on fare. There were 25 floors in the building. As it had no fire escapes (消防梯), 300 people were trapped (围困) in the fire and they could not escape. Many of them climbed to the roof of the building. The helicopters (直升机) came, but there was such thick smoke that the helicopters could not get close enough. At last about 70 people were saved. Down in the street, the firemen could not get close to the building because too many people were watching the fire. The terrible fire lasted about 4 hours and killed over 220 people.
The helicopters couldn’t get close to the building because the building was surrounded (包围) by thick smoke.