Hubei 119 fire services extended to include epidemic aid

The 119 fire services at all levels of Hubei province, the outbreak center of the novel coronavirus, have extended their service range to provide assistance related to the epidemic, an Ministry of Emergency Management official said on Tuesday.

The measure is in accordance with the reality that the number of calls for help related to the epidemic increased after the implementation of closed management for communities in Hubei, said Qiong Se, director of the ministry's fire and rescue division.

A total of 3,560 firefighters in Hubei have also been dispatched to form commandos to offer help. Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, has 20 such teams cooperating with health departments to carry out disinfection and the transportation of patients, said Qiong.

Hubei's fire services have received and handled more than 6,700 related tasks. The ministry has also formed 10 special anti-epidemic disinfection teams with a total of 500 people to reinforce Hubei at any time.

Fire and rescue teams across the country, according to the needs of the masses and the arrangements of local epidemic prevention headquarters, cooperate with other departments to transport epidemic-affected personnel and anti-epidemic materials, and also disinfect sites, items and vehicles. In addition, they provide the services of drainage and emergency medicine delivery, he said.

Up to now, a total of 7,537 such tasks have been completed, 503 of which were the transportation of personnel involved in the epidemic, and 1,130 related to transport of epidemic prevention materials.

The fire rescue teams have also taken the initiative to serve key epidemic prevention sites including designated hospitals, makeshift hospitals and centralized isolation places to ensure safety. The national fire rescue teams have set up 1,055 guidance and service groups at different levels to provide services for designated hospitals and centralized isolation places, Qiong said.

To support work resumption, the ministry has introduced different measures to help enterprises solve practical difficulties and resolve fire safety risks. Policies such as online certification and inspection service, fee suspension and appropriate reduction and exemption for companies producing fire control products have been implemented.

According to Qiong, since the resumption of work after the Spring Festival holiday, China's fire and rescue teams have inspected and served 95,000 enterprises, and helped them rectify more than 66,000 fire hazards.

So far, with the exception of two confirmed cases, 190,000 fire and rescue members are on duty. China's fire and rescue teams have, since Jan 20, accepted to 93,000 cases, rescued 6470 people in distress and property with the value of 2 billion yuan.