Free Web NovelChapter 403: Chapter 428 Frustrated Retreat
The towering red forced Fang Huai to take a detour and climb.
As the mountain was in the shape of a staircase, when he reached the platform level, a shiver ran through Fang Huai.
This red, unlike the yellow-tinged flames he had seen before, must be blaze red.
An uphill fire was truly terrifying; a mere gust of wind in over just ten minutes had turned it into a roaring inferno, desperately trying to burst out like alcohol flamed in a hot pan.
Now the flames had shot up seven or eight meters high. The platform was like the edge of a pot, and all around it were flammable materials.
Unfortunately, they were not chefs who could flip this massive mountainous pot, and even their only water curtain pot lid was too small to cover the flames.
Everyone had already retreated to the rear edge of the bare platform. Thanks to the stark platform, with only some dry leaves and branches to burn, and with Zhao Jinchen at the forefront holding the water gun close to his face to spray, and the others crazily shoveling sand and soil to throw downwards, they had just barely managed to stop the spread of the fire temporarily.
Zhao Jinchen’s respirator was already attached, and his body had been touched by flames, but the gun he held, the only one, would spell disaster if the fire could not be contained, sweeping over the platform. Even if they could retreat from the sides, the vast expanse of mountain forest above would be in peril.
"Squad Leader! You’ve been holding out for so long, let me do it!"
Song Lin tried to take the water gun from Zhao Jinchen but was pushed away by him.
"Move! I’m the squad leader! It’s not your turn yet! Go shovel dirt in the back!"
Seeing this, Fang Huai rushed forward in a few strides, pulled them both back a bit, and turned to see those with the wind force extinguishers had returned. He breathed a sigh of relief and then yelled:
"Where are the wind force extinguishers? Why did you go to the back?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"There’s wind! Of course, we had to come up!" Hu Hongzhi said somewhat innocently.
Fang Huai spoke exasperatedly, "I didn’t tell you to go down! Shoveling what dirt? Get over here with those wind force extinguishers! The wind in the mountains is blowing, isn’t it? And isn’t that what you’ve got in your hands?"
"The backpack blower can even move bricks, so use it on the fire! Wind and water, alternating cover! Don’t you get it?"
The people from the Second Squadron were very adept with urban firefighting equipment, but their control over forest firefighting gear was still far too inadequate.
After hearing Fang Huai’s words, those who had seemed stunned finally snapped back to attention, quickly donned their respirators, and reactivated their windforce extinguishers.
"Ta ta ta ta."
The engines were pulled to start.
"Wu..."
A few of them came forward with the blowers in tow, lining up as directed by Fang Huai, and to his astonishment, the powerful gust of wind actually pushed a large section of the fire back, securing a safe foothold for Zhao Jinchen once again.
Some nearby ignition sources were quickly blown away by the wind, and the platform, which was only covered with a layer of earth, was completely bare. With one of the three elements of combustion missing, the flames retreated beneath the platform once more.
The soldiers’ morale surged, and they began cleaning the platform with the blowers.
They had fought fires, braved storms, and endured earthquakes, but they had never battled against the wind quite like this.
Fang Huai, seeing their renewed effort, released Zhao Jinchen and shouted at them:
"What the hell are you playing at? It’s not as if the whole mountain has caught fire. Why the fear? Have you forgotten your equipment?
A wind speed of over 32.4 meters per second qualifies as a hurricane, and a wind force extinguisher can produce wind speeds of up to thirty meters per second. With that speed, if we had a larger wind-facing surface, we could even control the direction of the entire wildfire!"
As he spoke, Fang Huai took out his two-way radio.
"All the blowers at the base of the mountain, get up here! Quick!"
"Sss..." Zhao Jinchen finally shook his hand and handed the water gun back to Fang Huai, saying, "You take over for a while!"
Fang Huai was taken aback.
Even Zhao Jinchen, this iron man, couldn’t hold out?
But as Fang Huai saw him remove his helmet and respirator, revealing a face drenched in sweat as if washed, he couldn’t help but express his concern, "Are you okay?"
"I’m fine, I’m fine, just hold off the fire!" Zhao Jinchen said, rolling up his sleeves.
Revealed was an arm bright red and blistered with several large blisters.
Fang Huai swallowed hard.
Elder Deng had been burnt like that and hadn’t even made a sound! ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"Go rest in the back!" Fang Huai said, carefully avoiding his scalded arm, and cooled his back with water.
You can’t wet blisters; they might get infected.
But the surrounding temperatures were too high, and Zhao Jinchen’s body was steaming with heat—it had to be cooled down.
Standing on the scorched land, sending smoke into his helmet, even Fang Huai felt overwhelmed and put on his respirator.
Damn this mountain, wanting to smoke me like cured meat.
It was only because they were up there wearing firefighting combat suits. If it were the Forest Fire Brigade in their thin uniforms, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand the fire.
After taking over the water gun, Fang Huai no longer found the No.65 Water Gun to be useful.
The stream, although still somewhat forceful, was just a straight-stream nozzle, it couldn’t even disperse into a spray, and the water disappeared into the fire, leaving him to keep sweeping to the sides.
Moreover, as the fire encroached, a section of the hose buried in the ground had gotten scalded by the flames, hanging by a thread. Fang Huai had to intermittently douse the hose to prevent it from bursting.
You need a larger volume of water for this.
Damn it, where’s my Italian Cannon?
I need an 80mm cannon—I want a water cannon!
...
Fortunately, the wind was just a gust and gradually subsided, and the fire’s upward-feeding momentum lessened.
But the most terrifying thing was the aftermath of that gust.
The wildfires around the area were gradually igniting.
In the darkness of the night sky, some fires concealed beneath the vegetation, ignited by flying sparks, were particularly visible.
Fang Huai looked at all this, feeling a sense of loss and helplessness.
It was just one unexpected gust of wind that messed up all his plans.
Now, if the wind blew again, those fires around might become life-threatening.
Cao Yi saw that things were going wrong and began to shout, "Retreat! Let it burn! We must get down the mountain! If the surroundings catch fire, soon we’ll have no way to run!"
Fang Huai couldn’t help but look up at the sky, trying to gauge the wind.
But he could only see the clouds nearby, which weren’t moving much; the clouds in the distance shrouded by night were indiscernible, even his keen eyes couldn’t make them out.
His mind searched through all possible plans, but could only boil down to one final act of defiance:
"Special Duty Squad, Rescue Team, clear flammable materials along this platform and try to protect this natural barrier! We’ve got 15 minutes! After 15 minutes, we’re retreating down the mountain!"
The soldiers around, hearing Fang Huai speak like this, knew there was no chance of a counterattack. They could only grab their shovels and quickly move to the side.
The most reluctant was Zhao Jinchen.
This high platform that he had fought so hard to protect—now watching the fire on the mountain below, he felt reluctant to give up, saying:
"Can we use the dry powder fire extinguishing bombs? One bomb can clear two to three square meters! There are still more than a dozen on Car 1, get them to bring up some bombs and blast this fire!"
Fang Huai heard this, stepped forward, and unleashed a burst of firepower at a tree crown fire, then said somewhat helplessly:
"That thing, it never loses in exercises, but it never wins in real combat! Would they be left if it was really useful? Dry powder can’t lower the temperature, pressing down the fire temporarily, what’s the use? It will reignite in a few minutes!"
High mountain firefighting, difficult at every turn.
...
Twenty minutes.
The dozen or so headlamps on the platform were all lit.
The time for retreat had been exceeded, but the soldiers were still working, holding shovels, or using their hands, frantically clearing the area.
Even Cao Yi, who usually didn’t do this work, was crazily plowing the ground with a pickax, clearing the weeds.
It wasn’t just Zhao Jinchen who was unwilling.
There wasn’t a single person present ready to retreat.
But, when several fires below the mountain began to burn brighter and more vigorously, Fang Huai could only shout sternly:
"Stop it! Follow orders! Pack up, retreat!"
Everyone stopped their shoveling and turned to look at him.
Fang Huai glared, "What are you looking at? I don’t want to end up cooked meat here!"
Very reluctant.
With that, everyone descended the mountain, cursing over the Squadron’s first failed dispatch of the year.
"Damn it, if they gave me a No.65 Water Gun, I could extinguish this fire by myself!"
"Bullshit, does your gun come with a cheat for unlimited bullets? Besides, with this high of a mountain, would the pressure even be sufficient?"
"You want a gun, I damn well want a cannon!"
Fang Huai waved them off, stopped, and pointed to a few scattered fire spots, saying, "Stop arguing! We are not equipped enough, we fight the small fires not the big, check out the path below later, divide up and put out those smaller fires!"
"Okay!" The soldiers responded in unison.
When they reached below the burning area, a long firebreak had been created by the Forest Fire Brigade and the arriving volunteer fire brigade.
But, heaven didn’t give them enough time to form an enclosure. Even if they wanted to set a backfire, it was no longer feasible; a random backfire would only make the fire bigger.
"Has the fire started up there?"
Captain Wang saw them come down and knew that the position above had been abandoned. The disappointment on his face was clear to see.
But there was no blame.
Having fought wildfires for many years, they knew very well that once a fire became large, in most cases, efforts were in vain. Even if they successfully created a firebreak, it could still be breached.
Fang Huai stepped forward, "The fire line hasn’t broken through yet! Now hurry up and call the Meteorological Bureau! If they get here fast, there’s still time!"
"Okay, okay, I’ll rush them again!" Captain Wang, somewhat helplessly, hurried to a spot with better reception to make the call.
Fang Huai also gathered the Second Squadron, and began arranging them for the areas ignited by the flying embers:
"Each squad forms a group! First and Second Squad, three fire extinguishers, one back-carried, two handheld! Third and Fourth Squad, one of each type of fire extinguisher, remaining members, take shovels, sieve fences, rubber torches to assist!
I’m not going back up, I’ll stay here to assist you, Squad Four will be temporarily led by Squad Leader Hao!
Must extinguish it as quickly as possible, all personnel remember not to separate, each squad leader must ensure every member of their squad is within sight at all times, and if you encounter any danger, retreat to this spot at the fastest speed!"
"Yes!"
The sentiment was fervent.
Cao Yi saw everyone’s excessively agitated appearance, thought for a moment, and soothed them:
"Don’t feel like we’ve lost, this is a wildfire, constantly changing! It’s the most difficult type of fire to extinguish! Otherwise, why would the state specifically establish forest troops? We are urban firefighters, not specialized in fighting wildfires. Faced with fire, don’t act rashly! If it’s impossible, a safe retreat is a victory!"
Everyone’s heart was aflame with frustration, but Cao Yi’s words cooled them down somewhat.
But their actions were not delayed; they immediately started preparing the equipment, quickly finding paths to make their way up the mountain.
Captain Wang had also returned at this point.
"An hour and a half! They left the urban area in twenty minutes, but the journey is quite long, hold on for another hour and a half, they’ll definitely arrive before ten o’clock!"
