The incident began around 11h45 when residents noticed smoke emanating from an apartment on the 12A floor. Initially, smoke spread into the hallway, accompanied by a burning smell. Within approximately 15 minutes, intense flames erupted from the apartment's balcony area.

Hundreds of residents urgently moved to the ground floor lobby and exited the building using the stairs. A witness reported that the fire alarm system did not work. Residents only became aware of the fire after smelling a burning odor, prompting them to open their doors and discover thick smoke pouring into the hallway from the burning apartment.

At the time of the fire, the apartment was unoccupied. The apartment, larger than 40 m2, belongs to a young couple who were at work and were only informed of the incident by other residents.

By approximately 12h20, firefighters completely extinguished the blaze. While there were no human casualties, the fire destroyed many belongings inside the apartment.

The Dai Thanh apartment complex is situated along belt road 70, comprising six buildings, each 32 stories high. The apartments within the complex range in size from 36 m2 to 76 m2.