Every year, at least 5 months of heavy snow close the mountains, guarding 950,000 hectares of primary forest, per capita fire prevention area equivalent to more than 20,000 standard football fields, all kinds of dangerous terrain forest types are available...
On June 18, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting of Chinese and foreign journalists on "Guarding for Safety and Retrograde for Life", and Wang Depeng, political instructor of the Qiqian Squadron of the Daxinganling Detachment of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Forest Fire Brigade and instructor of the party branch secretary, told the story of this group of "forest guards in northern Xinjiang" to the people.
Wang Depeng.
Since the transformation of the forest fire brigade into a national comprehensive fire rescue team in 2018, how has the "old forest police" adapted to the new battlefield? Wang Yonggang, squadron leader of the Qiqian Squadron, said that after the transformation, the command and coordination were smoother, and the fire rescue was "like a tiger adding wings." "Now we have drones in the sky, helicopters in the air, and fire fighting armored vehicles on the ground, and the equipping of these new special equipment has greatly improved the efficiency of rescue." He said.
The Qiqian Squadron carried out the activity of reliving the oath of joining the party at the boundary monument. Photo by Lu Xiaoyang
Garrison "Where the Wind Stops"
Most of the forest fire brigades are stationed in the vastst forest areas of the motherland, and the Qiqian Squadron is a typical representative of the perennial independent stationing in the hinterland of the primeval forest area.
According to reports, Qiqian Township, Mordauga Town, Erguna City, Inner Mongolia, where the Qiqian Squadron is located, has at least 5 months of heavy snow every year, which is called "the place where the wind stops." The work here can be summed up in the words "bitter, tired, dangerous and far": the soldiers endure the extreme climate of "53 degrees north latitude" and "minus 53 degrees" all year round, guarding 950,000 hectares of primeval forest, and the per capita fireproof area is equivalent to more than 20,000 standard football fields. In addition, Qiqian is known as the "fire nest", alpine canyons, pine bushes, stone gullies, all kinds of dangerous terrain forest types, and the nearest town is more than 150 kilometers away...
Not only that, but the fire protection period here is as high as 6 months a year, and the squadron members need 24-hour combat readiness, and everyone jokes that "even sleeps with one eye open." "In winter, hail coupled with a low temperature of more than 40 degrees below zero makes it difficult to enter the mountains. In summer, mosquitoes, small bites, and blind grasshoppers 'work in three shifts', and who will send 'red envelopes' to whom. Squadron fighters said.
In this case, "meeting to see the fire, visiting relatives to check the road conditions" has become a helpless move for the family of the squadron to come to the team. One summer, Chen Li, the lover of Zhao Guoming, then the instructor of the squadron, brought her daughter to visit relatives in the squadron, and just after walking to the door of the squadron, Zhao Guoming wore a fireproof suit and passed by his wife and daughter. "It was as if an orange-red ribbon was floating past my eyes, and I couldn't see which one was him." In the blink of an eye, Chen Li's 7-day holiday has arrived, and her husband has not returned, and she can only regret returning home.
On June 19, 2019, the fire in the forest area spread rapidly by taking advantage of the wind, and the commanders and fighters of the Qiqian Squadron rationally used tactics to fight and save. Photo by Wen Baizhi
Take off the "olive green" and replace it with "flame blue"
In 2018, the public security fire brigade and the armed police forest force were transformed to form a national comprehensive fire rescue team, and the Qiqian squadron also took off the "olive green" and replaced it with "flame blue", and newly formed a "professional national team" to guard the green water and green mountains.
"After the transformation of the system to become a national comprehensive fire rescue team, it means that the mission and tasks have been newly expanded, and it is necessary to fully undertake all kinds of disaster rescue work, which is an opportunity and a challenge." Squadron Leader Wang Yonggang said.
In this case, how does the "old forest police" adapt to the new battlefield? For example, in terms of training content, earthquake rescue originally did not belong to the responsibility of the forest fire brigade, and has now become a compulsory course for the training content of "one main and two auxiliaries" for forest firefighters. The "one main and two auxiliaries" refers to forest fire prevention and fire extinguishing, supplemented by wild earthquake rescue and water rescue.
In addition, in order to adapt to the transformation from "single disaster species" to "full disaster species" and "major emergency", the squadron carried out professional rescue training in water, mountains, earthquakes and other rescue, and also regularly consulted with the departments of emergency response, forestry, meteorology and fire prevention in the station to discuss and judge the situation of fire prevention and fire extinguishing. Half a year later, the squadron explored training methods such as field combat fire fighting and rescue in the primitive forest area and comprehensive rescue in water areas, and promoted them in the headquarters.
The Qiqian Squadron conducted rope rescue training. Photo by Lu Xiaoyang
Command and coordination are smoother, and fire rescue is "like a tiger"
"As we marched toward the fire site, we saw thick smoke covering the sky above the fire field, and from time to time a red tongue of fire rolled out, which already shows that a three-dimensional burning situation has been formed on the fire field, and the fire is extremely fierce." Wang Depeng still remembers the 2019 "6•19" Forest Fire in The Jinhe Forest Farm in Daxinganling, Inner Mongolia, which was also the first major forest fire in the northern primeval forest area that was extinguished since the squadron was converted.
He said that most of the fires in the northern primeval forest areas, especially in no man's land, are caused by lightning strikes, seemingly clear skies, and a dry thunderstorm may cause forest fires. The vegetation of this fire is alpine pine shrubland, the oil content is very high, as soon as it encounters a fire, it is large, so this fire is notoriously difficult to fight and difficult to save.
At that time, the area of the squadron was the southeast line where the fire was the most intense, the terrain was the most complex, and the conditions were the most difficult. After two days and two nights of fighting, the squadron and friendly units achieved a siege.
"But if there have been such fires in the past, we may need to pay more time to achieve the sealing of the fire." In Wang Depeng's view, this is due to the reform and transformation of the system, the command mechanism and coordination and mobilization have become smoother. Moreover, the squadron has established a more efficient command platform, which can know the location of its own and friendly neighboring units at any time, which is convenient for grasping the rapidly changing fire situation.
"Now we have drones in the sky, helicopters in the air, and fire fighting armored vehicles on the ground, and the equipping of these new special equipment has greatly improved the rescue mission and greatly improved the efficiency." Wang Yonggang said.
According to statistics, since the establishment of the squadron, it has accumulated more than 500 fire prevention duty, patrolled more than 100,000 kilometers of mountains and forests, and put out more than 400 fires of various types, and was awarded the honorary title of "Forest Guard of Northern Xinjiang" by the Government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Nandu reporter Wang Fan correspondent Du Xianglong Fu Xianyu Yao Shunyu