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Inexperience and the high staff turnover is contributing to the deaths of China’s young firemen, local media reported today.
Zhao Zilong, 18 – the youngest of five firemen killed on January 2, when a fire-damaged warehouse collapsed in Harbin, in northern China’s Heilongjiang province – had finished only one month’s training before he died, The Beijing News said.
The oldest of the firemen killed in Harbin was only 22; 14 other firemen were also injured in the incident.
Normally firemen were required to complete 12 months of training, but in reality formal training of firemen was much shorter, experts said.
The People's Public Security magazine, a publication of the Ministry of Public Security, said more than 140 firemen had been killed while on duty between 2008 and 2012.
The average age of these firemen was only 24 years old, The Beijing News said.
A similar tragedy occurred while firemen were tackling a blaze in Shanghai last May.
Two firemen, Qian Lingyun, 23, and Liu Jie, 20, were killed when an explosion ripped through a burning residential complex in the city’s Huajingyuan area.
An official with the No.1 Fire Department in Harbin, using the alias Chen Ping, told The Beijing News that most of China's new fire service recruits were selected from men that had signed up for military service, aged between 18 and 22.
All fire service recruits – assigned to the task, rather than volunteering – should have theoretically completed at least 12 month’s training so they had adequate firefighting skills and could master all the different equipment, Chen said.
However, firemen often never completed all the training, he said; military service – initially lasting two years – required all recruits to complete three months of basic training, which cut into the time for firefighting training of those picked to become firemen.
A high turnover rate among firemen was another factor facing most Chinese cities. They were forced to employ temporary contract firemen to cope with the shortage of well-trained firemen, The Beijing News said.
Zhou Pei, a contracted fireman in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, said most of his colleagues had received only two months of training.
Many firemen had left the service because of the high risks of the job and the poor monthly salary, which was as low as 2,500 yuan (about HK$3,160).
Hubei province reported a vacancy rate of 48 per cent at 152 of its local fire stations.
The fire services in Henan, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces have also faced similar shortages in manpower, The Beijing News reported.


Inexperience and high staff turnover 'contributing to deaths of China’s young firemen'

Chinese firefighters battle to rescue a fellow fireman who was buried when a blazing warehouse collapsed on January 2 in Harbin. Photo: Reuters

Compensation raised for families of five firefighters killed in blaze in northern China

Firefighters tackling the blaze last week in Harbin. Photo: EPA

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