Firefighting must be modernized to reduce death toll

By 6:30 pm on Monday, the bodies of the 27 firefighters and three local residents — with whom contact had been lost since Sunday afternoon during a forest fire in Muli county in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province — had been found, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

The tragedy instantly brought back memories of the explosion in Tianjin Port on Aug 12, 2015, which claimed 165 lives, among whom 99 were firemen.

The ministry said the 30 people were killed when the wind direction changed abruptly and strong winds fanned the flames, causing “explosive burning” of large patches of the forest.

While their deaths may have been the result of the natural conditions, there are still lessons that can be drawn from the tragedy.

The deaths in the wildfire and the firefighting efforts in Tianjin Port, which was caused by the ignition of all sorts of chemicals, highlight the urgent need for firefighters to have better equipment and training, reliable surveillance and communication support, and play-to-the-score on-site command.

The constantly changing weather conditions in the mountains and the risks of chemical exposure in Tianjin were critical factors the commanders-in-chief and the individual firefighters should have had the skills and knowledge to take into consideration while planning their next steps.

Fire fighting entails the joint efforts of different parties, among which the firefighters on the front line are the tip of the pyramid. When fighting fires, it is their lives that need to be protected. Otherwise, if further efforts are needed to rescue these firefighters, who are walking on a razor’s edge, the initial firefighting mission will be a failure, even if the fire is put out at last.

Professionalism is an important protection for firefighters. And the advancement of technology in recent years should have provided them with better safety guarantees than before. But the two fires in Tianjin and Sichuan have exposed there is still a long way to go for China to modernize its firefighting system, which is arguably one of the world’s largest.

Hopefully, the authorities can look into the incident and find the reasons for the deaths to prevent such a heavy loss of life in the future.