Funding comes alight for emergency service

As much as 900 million yuan has been assigned to Beijing to strengthen its fire-fighting capability, one year on from a dramatic blaze at the iconic CCTV complex.

The municipal fire department has already earmarked 50 million yuan of the fund to buy two fire-fighting helicopters.

The money is being transferred from the central government to the municipal authorities in three installments between 2009 and 2011, according to Zhao Zixin, director of the Beijing municipal fire department, at a conference of the standing committee of Beijing municipal people's congress on Sunday.