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Five young firefighters lost their lives battling a blazing apartment building in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Jan. 2. Their deaths became a very public example of the fallen fire brigade soldiers in recent years.

Rescuers save a buried firefighter on the scene of a warehouse fire at Beifangnanxun ceramics market in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, late on Jan. 2, 2015. Five firefighters were dead and another 14 were injured, including a security, according to local authorities. [Photo/Xinhua]

Statistics from the official People's Police magazine showed that more than 140 firemen, aged 24 on average, lost their lives in action between 2008 and 2012.

Although firefighting is understandably a dangerous undertaking, the unusually high mortality in recent years has prompted a rethink about the profession, which in China is a military service, rather than a civil service as it is in most other countries.

In military service, firemen come and leave within three years. During this short span in the profession, young soldiers are unable to accumulate as much experience as their Western counterparts who have stayed in the same job for several decades.

A Harbin local named Zheng Zhonglei recalled how helpless the first batch of firemen looked when they rushed to the scene. "Two batches of firemen came with a water pipe in a close sequence, but they all stood there bewildered," he said.

"They asked each other: 'What orders did you get? Shall we start putting out the fire here or go around to the back of the building?' Some of the ‘kids’ couldn't even connect the pipes properly," Zheng said.

"We feel extremely sorry that lives have been lost again and again, but we should find a solution from within the system itself," said an expert at the Fujian Provincial Fire Brigade. "They [the deceased firemen in Harbin] were not able to handle that fire." Many firefighters in the current service admit that they are sent to field missions after only a few months' training, and that they are not skilled enough to handle many situations, according to the expert.

Fire brigades across the country are national military service establishments. New recruits are the main supply for the team. Soldiers in compulsory military service are between 18 and 22, which means frontline fire brigades primarily consist of young men.

There is no threshold for recruiting firemen other than the basic physical examination. “We normally need to train new recruits from zero," Gao Ming, the captain of Jinan fire brigade wrote in Fire Weekly.

In theory, the training for new firemen is sufficient. Chen Ping, a commander of the Harbin fire brigade who took part in the Jan. 2 mission, said new recruits should have at least one year's training before going to a field mission, but in reality most young firemen are sent on missions shortly after entering service.

"Compulsory military service only lasts two years. If you don't go out on missions during the first year, then in the second year, there wouldn’t be many opportunities, because you would be busy with leaving the military," said Chen.

His opinion was confirmed by many firemen, who said they had only received a few months of training before going on field missions. Many new firemen lack the basic knowledge to deal with fires, they said. Zhao Zilong, one of the deceased firemen in Harbin just joined the brigade a month before the accident.

"Experience means safety for us," said one fireman in Henan Province. But most soldiers in fire brigades are only here for two years, meaning that the experience they accumulate is "very limited."

Chen understood that Zhao was unable to make judgments in the blazing building, because even a veteran fireman in China – after two to three years of service – would not necessarily be able to handle a similar situation.

Chen recounted a life-threatening situation he encountered when he was a new recruit. "The xylene blast in the factory destroyed the power line. It was pitch black in the factory. We couldn't see anything after rushing in, and we pumped water from the hose." Chen said an experienced commander told him off afterwards for his recklessness, because there could be new explosions at any moment.

Apart from being inexperienced, "complying with the requirements of non-professional, administrative officials," according to many firemen, is also preventing effective rescues. Chen Ping was unharmed in the latest Harbin fire, but he still said that the "fire rescue had not been carried out in a scientific way, and was interrupted by administrative orders."

The public also questioned the commanders on site that day for ordering the firemen to break into the building and put the fire out from the inside. The Heilongjiang provincial fire department clarified that all the soldiers were on the roof, and that they wouldn't jeopardize young soldiers’ lives by ordering them to enter the blazing building. A Beijing News reporter heard a Harbin municipal government official said that he "wanted the fire to be put out from inside the building."

This administrative requirement is reminiscent of similar ones in which local government officials tend to care more about saving a blazing building than the lives of firefighters. Fire departments have to consider such demands because their equipment is purchased by local governments, so their rapport with local administrative officials is important.

Lack of hands is the fundamental reason why these new firemen are sent to field missions before they master necessary skills. All the members of Chen’s brigade are active servicemen, due to the limited headcount. This is why Zhao Zilong, who had only come some 30 days ago, was assigned to the mission. "He just learnt how to wear the fire suit, and how to operate a ventilator. He basically knew nothing about fire rescue skills," Chen said.

Data shows that in developed countries, there are more than 10 firefighters for every 10,000 people, and in most other developing countries, the number is between three to five. But in China, there are below two firefighters for every 10,000 people. According to Chen, Harbin has a population of 10 million, but the number of firemen there is only a little more than 1,000.

Fire departments in many places did start putting firemen into the civil service from as early as 2003, but after more than 10 years, the expected target has not been achieved.

Low salaries and lack of promotion prospects are the main reasons for firemen leaving the brigade. One contracted fireman in a southeast provincial city said the monthly salary was only 2,500 yuan (US$408), even less than the salary for a waiter at a local roadside small restaurant.

A fire brigade chief in Henan Province said it would be too costly to increase the number of contracted firemen nationwide, and the main force should still be soldiers in active military service. However, he said suggested promoting more soldiers to be non-commissioned officers, would be a way of keeping experienced firemen. "In a fire, a veteran is sometimes more efficient than a squad of privates."

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