Free Web NovelChapter 399: Chapter 324 Wildfire
"What’s the alert?"
This is an inevitably common question each time we dispatch.
"Forest fire!"
This time, the entire stairwell fell silent.
Cao Yi shouted in the stairwell, "Don’t panic, get in the vehicles, everyone head to the backyard to grab the forest firefighting equipment! Sieve fence, blower, shovel, fire blanket!... Bring two buckets of gasoline too!"
"Instructor, we don’t have enough equipment!"
"Then take whatever you can! We set off in five minutes!"
Wildfires are a special emergency response because the equipment needed to handle them isn’t normally kept in the vehicles, but in the storage room; squad members can get their gear sorted before taking off.
"Except for Firefighting Squad Two standing by, everyone else, deploy! Car 1, Car 2, Car 3, load up your equipment on the IVECOs!"
As soon as Cao Yi reached the communication room, he let out a roar and the whole squadron sprang into action.
...
Dispatch note.
Patrolling squadron: Special Service Squadron 2.
Vehicles/Personnel: Car No.1, Car No.2, Car No.3, 15 people. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Location: Wangmu Station (nearby), Baiyun District, Guiyang City.
Type of alarm: Fire alert.
Combustibles: Forest.
Situation of people trapped: Unknown.
Details: Caller claimed to have seen a large wildfire near the highway, and the cause of the fire is unknown. ƒrēewebnovel.com
Fang Huai sat in Car 1, holding the dispatch note, scanning it briefly.
When it came to assigning roles, he was originally slotted to follow Car No.3, but now, he was almost always with Car No.1 to prevent Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong from constantly calling him on the two-way radio.
Having understood the contents of the dispatch note, Fang Huai pondered, "This... The Command Center must have notified the Forestry Station by now, right? We don’t seem to have many sieve fences left."
Cao Yi nodded, "Seven. We have plenty of shovels, and if that’s not enough, we can use fire blankets to fight the fire... We’ll use whatever tools we can, and if the fire is too big, we’ll have to call First Squadron for reinforcements, they have a better supply of wildfire fighting equipment."
At that moment, Song Lin curiously asked, "Instructor, don’t we have the People’s Armed Police Forest Troops? Why don’t we call the Forest Fire Brigade to put out the fire?"
Everyone in the car laughed.
Fang Huai patted his back, joking, "Why don’t you take a cab to Sichuan or Yunnan and ask them to come over?"
Song Lin was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"Let me enlighten you," Fang Huai said:
"The People’s Armed Police Forest only has 9 general teams, stationed in just over a dozen provinces with high forest coverage. Near us, there’s a Yunnan Team and a Sichuan General Team. Guizhou is sandwiched in the middle but doesn’t have its Forest Fire Brigade.
The local Forestry Bureau has its own firefighting teams for wildfires.
If there’s a particularly large forest fire, the Forest Police from nearby provinces would come to assist.
So for provinces like ours, without a forest unit, we must respond to any wildfires reported in our jurisdiction if there are no other incidents at hand."
Song Lin suddenly realized, "Oh... that explains it! I’ve never seen the Forest Fire Brigade all this time! Do they... also use fire trucks to put out fires?"
"Not really," Fang Huai replied. "They have fire trucks, but mainly rely on forest firefighting equipment and troop carriers. For big fires... they haven’t acquired any planes yet, but they do have some on lease.
The Forest Fire Brigade has too few personnel and too many tasks. They require not only aerial firefighting capabilities but also high mobility. Therefore, any rescue planes China acquires are given top priority to them, and I’ve heard they’re about to get their own Mi-26 helicopters soon."
Fang Huai’s explanation seemed to provide more detail than the rest of the people in the car knew; upon hearing about the Mi-26, Hao Chengbin couldn’t help but turn around and ask:
"Mi-26? Sounds like... a fighter jet?"
Fang Huai replied with a smile, "It’s a large transport helicopter produced by the Soviet Union, but truth be told, if you want to mount weapons on a helicopter, it could be used for almost anything."
At this point, Cao Yi also joined the conversation, "Even if they were equipped with fighter jets, it wouldn’t be surprising. The strongest unit in Yunnan, the Yunnan Team, was originally an airborne corps formed from the 15th Airborne Army, and only after its reorganization was it relocated from Daxing’anling, Heilongjiang to Yunnan."
"Oh..." Song Lin was impressed but confused.
Fang Huai also remembered the past.
This unit indeed had a remarkable record of service.
They had fought fires all over the nation, including extinguishing a blaze in Daxing’anling, Heilongjiang, 4000 kilometers away.
In the previous Chongqing forest fire, it was primarily their responsibility. They managed to arrive on the fifth day.
Upon their arrival, they faced towering flames. The predetermined firefighting strategy was to "avoid the main body of the fire, extinguish residual flames, and create an encirclement."
Instead, upon their arrival, they chose to confront the fiercest part of the blaze directly. The crews of 55 vehicles sang a military song together upon reaching the periphery and then charged into the fire scene.
Helicopters, dry chemical powder, drones, fire starters, fighting fire with fire – they used all available means. The situation went from fire chasing people to people chasing fire, turning one of the most ferocious forest fires in terms of disaster severity into an outright defeat.
The locals in Chongqing said, "This troop is fiercely formidable."
That is an honor.
Fang Huai, too, wished he had such a "fiercely formidable" troop under his command.
"Song Lin, tell the others that once we arrive, whatever happens, don’t panic. Remember in a forest fire not to run around aimlessly; the entire unit needs to advance while keeping an eye on the surroundings. If the wind picks up, the fire can move faster than people."
The soldiers were facing a forest fire for the first time; Fang Huai felt obliged to remind them.
Zhao Jinchen seemed to remember something too and sighed, saying:
"Isn’t it just fast? It’s much faster! When the strong wind comes, you can’t even escape on a motorcycle! If you encounter a wildfire rushing towards you, never try to face it, run against the wind! Run fast!"
Fang Huai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The old squad leader of the Firefighting Squad was this timid; it seemed that the Second Squadron still had a long way to go from the Yunnan Forest People’s Armed Police.
...
Half an hour later.
The fire truck approached the fire from a distance, and soon, they saw the full scope of the fire.
The moment they saw it clearly, there was a unanimous "damn."
Fang Huai’s throat couldn’t help but gulp.
All the thoughts of a heroic charge that had formed on the way there vanished at that moment.
What the hell do these trees eat to grow so tall?
The shorter ones were about six or seven meters tall, and the taller ones stretched to the sky.
Moreover, the starting point of the fire must be high up; it was a crown fire.
At the entire fire scene, as they approached, they had to look up to see everywhere red, with some branches burnt down to mere sparks. The burning area had yellow flames on the outside and deep red on the inside, like the entrance to a hell of flame demons from Western legends—it wouldn’t be surprising if magma were spouting out from inside.
Fang Huai turned his head and saw several same year soldiers looking at the fire with stern expressions, as if they were looking at their own graves.
To be honest, given the height of the fire, any normal person would lose all confidence in extinguishing it; it felt like a death sentence to enter.
The Yunnan Fire Brigade Headquarters had hundreds of people and even plane cover.
Fang Huai walked over to them and patted each one on the shoulder, saying,
"Don’t worry, we don’t need to go in to put out this fire. It’s useless to enter. Even the Bull Demon King, without his wife’s banana leaf fan, would turn into a roast cow if he went in."
The four of them laughed.
Wang Peng said resolutely, "I’m not afraid!"
Fang Huai smiled without responding and surveyed the surroundings.
This wasn’t a matter of fear. Iron will was useless here; will needed a physical body to manifest, and to ensure safety, one had to be constantly vigilant and have a sharp mind.
Fortunately, there weren’t any strong winds today, and the wildfire was not spreading rapidly. Looking into the center, they could see the end of the fire scene.
But the fire was beyond their control; the prepared tools like the iron brooms were virtually useless.
Without water cannons, they couldn’t do anything to extinguish it.
The fire seemed powerless, but Cao Yi, who had dealt with wildfires more than once or twice, made an instant decision.
"Isolate the fire source! He Zhijun, Fang Huai, Zhao Jinchen, Zhang Yang... never mind, Zhang Yang stay back, Hao Chengbin go! You go to the side and look for a suitable place to make a fire break!"
Cao Yi hesitated for a moment but still didn’t dare send Zhang Yang out. Inexperienced people, scattered during a wildfire, might not come back.
This kind of big fire, water was the most useless thing unless it rained, a heavy rain at that.
They could only try to find or create fire breaks and resort to backfiring.
Fang Huai, however, had good eyesight and could see through to some extent. He spotted a barren hillside not far behind the fire, circumvented the tens of meters long fire line, and ran to the back.
...
By the time Fang Huai came back, the forestry bureau’s forest firefighters had arrived, about twenty people. The leader was loudly arguing with Cao Yi:
"We can’t stand here! This place is too dangerous! We must have a retreat when fighting fires! Behind us, there is a large amount of flammable material. There’s no wind now, but we can’t gamble! If a gust of wind comes, we won’t be able to outrun it!"
Cao Yi looked around the environment filled with large trees and said:
"I’ve already sent out people to scout!"
The leader also stroked his chin and looked around.
Fang Huai came running up just then.
"I found it! There’s a barren area right behind us! It’s quite large, let’s hurry!"
Cao Yi immediately picked up the two-way radio and shouted, "Scouts, return the way you came, assemble!"
The people quickly returned, and once everyone gathered, they hurriedly picked up their equipment and ran towards the back.
On the way, the forestry bureau’s forest fire brigade also made phone calls, summoning all available support forces.
Soon they would have to dig trenches to isolate the fire, and Cao Yi also thought about calling for reinforcements but reconsidered. With wildfires, having more people could complicate the situation, and involving too much of the urban fire brigade’s forces could cause chaos if a disaster occurred in the city area. He only made a call to Captain Huang of the First Squadron to prepare firefighting tools and be ready for reinforcement.
When the fire brigade was dispatched, they often faced situations where it seemed like reinforcements were needed, but it also seemed like they could handle it themselves. Most commanders would choose not to disturb their fellow squadrons.
However, Firefighting Squad Two from the squadron left behind was still called over by him, then he reported the situation to the Command Center, saying that the Second Squadron was fully deployed and could not send any other police.
After making the call, Fang Huai said with a smile:
"In half a year, we’ll be a sixty-person big team. From then on, we won’t need reinforcements. We’ll be the ones going out to provide reinforcements every day!"
Old Cao’s spirit was lifted by the thought, and he quickened his steps.
Sixty people, huh, pulling them out, a whole bunch of brothers! Going out to provide reinforcement, they could overwhelm the brother squadrons!
Both were secretly pleased.
But heaven would not let them enjoy the moment.
Fang Huai’s face felt a slight breeze.
