The Trump administration ordered the Chinese consulate in the city to close following allegations of hacking and IP theft by the DOJ. That’s when the bonfire started, which was noticed by a local news station.
The whole thing was caught on video.
After the first few seconds of the video, the lighting gets better. You can see an Asian man in a suit standing ominously over the fire with a few others gathering around. The container itself is massive (3 to 4 feet by 6 to 8 feet) and appears to be full of documents, no doubt things that could prove useful to the DOJ’s case against those who had worked there.
Later, the video cuts to a large hose being used to put the fire out. Apparently, the news crew had called the fire department on the Chicoms, though those manning the hose in the video don’t appear to be firemen. Perhaps they were told to put it out themselves?