"New Era · Face"
Original title: Taipingmen Station of Water Detachment of Chongqing Fire Rescue Corps (introduction)
"Only for the quickest alarm when the alarm bell rings" (theme)
People's Daily reporter Shen Jingran
At the foot of the mountain city and on the bank of the Yangtze River, two tall barges are standing on the river bank. Taipingmen Station of Water Detachment of Chongqing Fire Rescue Corps is located near Changbin Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing.
"In order to facilitate the daily police and training, our team takes the boat as the station, and the two barges are where we work." Xu Hang, the political instructor of Taipingmen Station, said, "We mainly undertake the tasks of 271 km fire fighting and rescue, rescue and relief on the two rivers and four banks of the Chongqing section of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, as well as cross regional flood fighting and rescue tasks in other regions."
Since becoming a firefighter for 16 years, Xu Hang has rich practical experience. "The area under jurisdiction is large, the flood season is long, and there are many alarms. There are more than 600 alarms a year, and they often work outside for most of the day in summer," said Xu Hang.
Ma Jianhui, assistant to the station master, is the most stable chief engineer at the helm of the station, and also the first batch of firefighters specialized in torrent water rescue in China. "Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all on board. After spending more than 20 years on the water, I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I return to the shore." Ma Jianhui said, "The water rescue is more complex, and the rescue environment is dynamic, which is a great test of on-site adaptability."
In the summer of 2020, Chongqing was hit by a flood peak. At Chaotianmen Wharf, the barge was almost flush with the road, and the flood did not cross the riverside footpath. Late one night, Taipingmen Station received an urgent task. A barge in the waters near Changjiahui was unable to reach the shore when encountering torrents, and there were more than 10 passengers on board to be transferred. Ma Jianhui and Li Shiqiang, the first class fire chief, drove two assault boats to the waters for rescue.
"The trapped ship is at the confluence of the two rivers, which is the distance we can reach in the past 10 minutes. That night, we tried for nearly 3 hours to get close. Just arriving nearby, we heard a 'bang' sound. One of the anchor chains of the trapped ship was broken, and half of the stern was underwater." Recalling the scene at that time, Ma Jianhui was still terrified, "The instructor made a quick decision. Our engineers observed the river in real time to keep the ship stable. Rescue workers stepped up to board the ship and successfully rescued the trapped people in the shortest time."
After the reform, Taipingmen Station received and handled more than 2500 police and rescued more than 1000 people in distress. Going through fire and water and opening the channel of life require not only the courage to serve the people wholeheartedly, but also the professional level of strict training and polishing.
"We often joke that if we don't drink enough water during training, it means that the training intensity is not up to scratch," said Xu Hang. Compared with indoor venues such as training bases, outdoor whitewater training is a more difficult challenge for firefighters. The firefighters from Taipingmen Station have gone to the rapids of Daning River in Wuxi, Chongqing and Chishui River in Guizhou for outdoor training many times. "There are rocks all over the water, and there is a surging undercurrent. The 3mm thick rescue clothes have been scraped and torn, and countless scars have been scratched on the legs." Ma Jianhui recalled, "After drinking the muddy water, we learned our true skills. We can save more people only by suffering more in training."
Ma Jianhui has participated in water rescue for many years, and he also has his own experience: "When a rope expands in the water, it is completely different from the thickness of the shore. If the rope is wrongly supported, it may not move in the water, which brings great danger. Another example is that to make good use of various swimming styles in water rescue, we need to constantly learn and try." Day after day hard training brings professional ability improvement, The firefighters of Taipingmen Station have successively obtained more than 300 professional and technical qualifications for inland river vessel driving, boat driving, torrent rescue, diving rescue, rope rescue, emergency rescue, etc.
According to the regulations, married firefighters who meet the conditions of rotating leave can go home for two days every two to three weeks. But for most firefighters whose families are not in the main urban area, there is only one month of home leave a year, and most of the rest time is on the ship. "The fire rescue team must be on call at all times, just to be the quickest when the alarm bell rings. Especially in cities like Chongqing, where the waters are widely distributed, our water fire rescue team cannot relax." Xu Hang is tense day and night about his work, and does not relax for a moment.
