More professional firefighting service needed

Five young firefighters, aged between 18 and 22, were killed and another 14 injured in a warehouse blaze in Harbin, capital city of the Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. The cause of the fire on Jan 2, which resulted in the collapse of the building, is still being investigated.

This tragedy has once again highlighted the country's outdated firefighting system, along with the inefficient recruitment of firefighters. In the past five years, official statistics show that more than 140 firefighters have died on duty and more than 300 have been injured.

For starters, the lack of professional firefighting forces is so bad that about 290 counties reportedly have no trained firemen and most towns and villages do not have fire control supervisors.