More than 400 people have been admitted to hospitals in the northeastern port city, which is to the east of Beijing, Xinhua said.
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Beijing News said the explosions shattered windows and knocked doors off of buildings in the area.
They said an initial blast took place late Wednesday night at shipping containers of a warehouse for hazardous materials owned by a logistics company.
At least two firefighters were reported missing and four injured.
Senior management at the firm have been detained by authorities, state media said.
The explosion reportedly occurred about 11.30pm at a petrol storage station at Tianjin’s Binhai New Development Zone. The sky was red and she saw the second explosion before everyone began to panic and leave the building.
The magnitude of the first explosion was the equivalent of detonating three tons of TNT, the China natural disaster Networks Center said on its verified Weibo account; it was followed by a second stronger blast equivalent to 21 tons of the explosive.
The fire was brought under control before dawn on Thursday but continued to burn, CCTV said. Windows were blown out of high rise apartments and office buildings were destroyed. “But for us it’s a total loss”.
The TV report said the fire still yet to be contained as firefighters cannot use water to put it out due to presence of chemicals and instead has to use sand and other materials to contain it.
“It had been all quiet, then the sky just lit up brighter than day and it looked like a fireworks show”, said another worker on the site who gave just his surname, Li.
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Tianjin, which lies about 140 kilometres southeast of Beijing, is one of China’s biggest cities, with a population of almost 15 million people according to 2013 figures.
