Red China Puts Stress On Prevention of Fires

Red China Puts Stress On Prevention of Fires

Fire officers in Chungking show fire prevention posters to their American visitor, Fire Commissioner Ann Reiss Lane of the City of Los Angeles.

The streets of Chungking, People’s Republic of China, are steep and twisting. Grim new multistory apartment buildings of brick and concrete rise above single-story one-room dwellings and shops of pre-Liberation vintage. Trucks, hauling produce or building materials, and articulated public buses vie with people, not private autos, for street space.

There are people, walking and bicycling, everywhere in China. Even a 17-day visit helps make meaningful the magnitude of a population of more than 900 million, in all this teeming mass of humanity, in five cities in China, I never saw or heard a fire truck or ambulance making an emergency run through the streets.

To help understand why this was so, China International Travel Service arranged a visit at a downtown fire station, with the “leading member” of the Chungking Fire Brigade and three other officers on a hot and steamy June morning. My husband and I were the first westerners to make such a visit.

Passing a People’s Liberation Army soldier holding a rifle with bayonet at the gate, we parked on the concrete basketball court. We were met by an officer lineup and ushered to the third floor of a grimy concrete building. Every visit in China begins with hot tea and an introductory briefing. We settled at the table beneath the wall map of the fire district, with buildings and hydrants marked, feeling right at home.

I had prepared a list of questions and reviewed them with our Chinese guidetranslator, to familiarize him with fire department technology. Our host, Mr. Chiang, first described the Chungking Fire Brigade fire prevention focus. At every level of society, a “leading member” is responsible for fire prevention. In factories, when workers meet to assign responsibilities, one person is placed in charge of fire prevention. District revolutionary committees carry fire prevention education to the masses.

The fire fighting brigade is responsible for monitoring execution of regulations. In case of violations, the brigade “sets demands on local leading members to make corrections within a certain period.” They also conduct a periodic propaganda movement, and kindly provided me with sample fire prevention posters and calendars.

For stations in city

In the 7.8 square kilometers of downtown Chungking there are four fire stations to serve the 6 million residents of the city. Fire stations are placed at distances which enable apparatus to reach a fire within five minutes.

At each station there are four squads of 10 men, 20 working each 24 hours while the other 20 have training. It is a civilian department, but members voluntarily enroll for a five-year period, similar to the army. They live at the station, in dormitories, and half have each Sunday off. They receive no pay, as the government provides for their needs. At the end of five years they are demobilized and assigned a different kind of work. As with all workers in China, they receive free medical care. Cadre (the officers) are professionals, and are paid 70 yuan (about $47) per month. Retirement age is 60.

The firemen wear blue pants and white shirts at the station (as does nearly every other male and female in China). On a shelf behind the apparatus are neatly folded khaki fire fighting clothes of treated canvas. A very heavy, hard, plastic helmet and boots of either leather or rubber complete the outfit. Chiang noted that they are studying to improve the turnout coat.

Training subjects

Fire fighters receive both tactical and technical training. They are taught the causes of combustion, properties of chemicals, and correct tactics for suppression of these kinds of fires. They learn about the uses of ladders, operation of pumps, connection of hoses and uses of various extinguishers. They are trained in fire prevention.

In an attempt to understand the absence of emergency equipment on the streets, I asked about the incidence and major causes of fires in Chungking. I was told, to my amazement, that there are only 500 to 600 fire incidents each year in the greater Chungking area. An incident is defined as a fire causing more than $13 damage.

Turnout gear is neatly laid out alongside stairway in a Chungking fire station.

In the countryside, the major cause is improper use of fire. When peasants use dry plant stems as cooking fuel, they may leave pieces hanging out, which set their houses on fire. In factories, electrical fires are typical problems.

While visiting a factory in Wuhan, I interviewed a fire department squad leader. The plant prints and dyes fabrics. Its last big fire was in 1976 during a period of extremely hot, dry weather. Fluff, accumulated in a workshop, caught fire in the singeing machine. The 10-man factory squad put out the fire (an engine is housed on the factory grounds) with the assistance of volunteers.

Prevention stressed

In the factory, the focus is on prevention first. Dangerous chemicals, such as sulfuric acid and benzine, were cited as fire causes. They use foam and dry chemicals for these fires. Each workshop has a person in charge of prevention. Dormitories in which workers and their families live are inspected. Fires caused by cigarettes or food on the stove are not, I was told, big problems.

The Chungking “leading member” responded to my question about arson with a slight smile: “very few cases, some by mental cases, some in anger.”

China has no fire insurance industry. In the new proposed written criminal code, arson is listed as a capital crime.

Fire extinguishers were visible in all public buildings, as were small red buckets hanging from the walls. In the countryside, peasants keep a pot filled with water. Strict regulations exist requiring standpipes. Hydrants are located 100 meters apart throughout the entire city.

Fires are reported by telephone. As few homes have private phones, either a public phone or the local unit office phone is used. The fire department has no radio communication and no dispatching office. Each station has one set of walkie-talkies used by the command car. If more companies are needed, the commanding officer at the scene calls by phone to other stations.

Two-engine response

The person reporting the fire is asked the location and situation. Two engines with two squads (20 men) are dispatched to a residential fire. The engines carry 1 to 2 tons of water, a 7-meter mechanical ladder atop the engine, and several ladders with hooks. Although I did not see it, I was told of a special truck with a 28-meter mechanical ladder.

The author, Commissioner Lane, poses with members of a Wuhan factory fire brigade.Brigade members at a factory in Wuhan don turnout gear to participate in a drill.

The leading member could recall no recent fire fighter deaths, and few fatalities to civilians. The fire fighters have no breathing apparatus, and the tools and gear carried on the engine seemed to be limited to a shovel, a very small ax worn on a canvas tool belt, 2-inch canvas hose, and a small assortment of fittings. Pumps are mounted on the front of the engine.

The apparatus floor was very neat, the equipment clean and painted red. Dormitories on the second floor were orderly, with simple wooden beds and wall lockers. I was disappointed to find no poles to slide down, but as the ceilings are extremely high, a pole slide would not doubt be hazardous. Classrooms and the office of the leading member, sparsely furnished and with flaking plaster walls, filled the third floor.

I presented my hosts with books about the Los Angeles Fire Department and a small marble paperweight with the department seal. Questions about LACFD apparatus, training, communications, uniforms and fire prevention activities filled the remaining time we had together.

As a parting gift I received a complete uniform of the Chungking Fire Brigade and a salute to friendship and peace between our two countries.

Rick Lasky, Scott Thompson, Curtis Birt, and John Salka

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