Illegally parked cars and steel stakes blocked firefighters vehicles from promptly reaching and extinguishing a fire in a Southwest China city residential building on Wednesday, which sparked public condemnation of the chaotic parking and calls on better urban management.

A tank-alike fire fighting robot on Tuesday sprays water during a fire drill in Beijing, which involves 65 firefighters and 13 vehicles. The robot can enter a fire site and send real-time images to the command center. (Photo: IC)

There were no deaths or injuries reported as of Thursday night, but the delay caused extensive property damage to the 30-story apartment block in Chongqing. 

Thirty-eight firefighting vehicles and 197 firefighters rushed to the site at about 5 pm but found their official fire route blocked by an array of private cars and steel stakes planted in the tarmac, the People's Daily reported on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Wednesday. 

Residents upended the cars and helped firefighters clear a path by cutting through all the steel stakes, according to a video circulating online.  

Early indications suggested the fire started on a second floor balcony and spread to the top floor. It was basically extinguished by 7:30 pm. 

Public condemnation of the chaotic parking was joined by angry online calls for better urban traffic management.

There had been many complaints about the illegal parking and blocked passage to traffic police, but residents received no feedback, according to one alleged resident commenting online.

A resident whose apartment window afforded him a clear view of the cars told the Global Times on Thursday that the district had just started to reorganize parking before the accident.

The cars' occupation of the route was "stubborn," said the resident,who only gave the surname "Su." 

Few buildings in the area have a parking basement, leaving far from sufficient spaces for all the cars, he said.

The firefighting authority published a notice to clear the fire passage on December 25. 

According to the notice, no obstruction such as parking garages, structures and fixed isolation piles should be placed in the fire passage. Any violators would be fined or detained in accordance with laws.

Organizations or individuals that have repeated illegal parking would have their name blacklisted on China's burgeoning social credit system. 

A bad record prevents a person getting loans, buying train or plane tickets. 

Since the fire, residents of other Chongqing districts have conducted fire safety checks at the request of the local government, Shanghai news portal thepaper.cn reported on Thursday.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.