I've never been to a warzone but I feel it may feel like these. The videos don't quite capture how loud and weird the whole thing was but I guess they give an idea. Detail: the street was never close before or during the fire. City buses went right by the fire as they crossed the intersection!
building bridges 
Wow, that’s a pretty big fire to just have uncontained (or at least it looks uncontained) in the middle of the city.
It was!! Granted, the intersection was really wide but still… It was fun to watch them put the bonfire together. Basically, people just bring whatever can be burned – doors, chairs, boxes, window frames, tables – and pile it up in the middle of the intersection. Car were still circulating then and we thought they would close the streets when the bonfire was lit. But no, not only traffic continued as usual but city busses continued to go by! I had put the camera away by that point but it would had made a wicked picture – the bus going by and you could see the flames on the other side of the bus.
There were at least a dozen such bonfires all over the city.
Hi Alex. Hope you are doing fine! How’s the archive work going? Great bonfires. We do something similar in NL with easter celebration. Big fires too, only..not in the middle of an intersection, ha! Best wishes and have fun! HD