More professional firefighting service needed

However, the limited term of service has led to the too-frequent turnover of most Chinese firemen. According to statistics, in 70 fires that involved firefighter casualties between 2005 and 2013, more than 64 percent of all the firefighters who were killed had served less than four years. In some cases, there was hardly even a qualified and experienced officer leading a group of "boy scouts" to quench a terrible fire - surely a contributing factor in the number of deaths.

Simply assigning more firefighters to local fire departments may not be a feasible solution, given the various limitations in local manning quotas and the lack of proper management. Under the current circumstances, it is better to start promoting higher education of a firefighting major in military academies so as to produce more qualified commanders. Second, advanced fire equipment should be assigned to junior firefighters in their training. More importantly, the personnel makeup in the fire services needs to be optimized to accommodate more firemen on the front line.

Moreover, a higher level of professionalism needs to be achieved by the firefighting departments at all levels, as this would enhance efficiency and reduce the turnover rate to allow more time for the firemen to receive proper training.

Last but not least, improvement of firefighter's occupational health will also be a boost to their competence as a whole. Firefighting is a risky profession and the normal health examination, which is still adopted by many fire departments, only focuses on firemen's physical health. Hence, perceptually invisible illnesses such as the mental and chemical damages that firefighters suffer during an action, should be cared about as well.

The author is the director of Qinghai Public Security Fire Corps Hospital in Xining of Qinghai province.