China's comprehensive fire and rescue force has greatly strengthened its disaster relief capabilities since it was established in 2018, rescuing more than 2.95 million people in roughly 9 million missions over the past five years, said Qiong Se, administrator of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, at a press conference Tuesday.

Qiong Se, a member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Emergency Management and administrator of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, attends a press conference in Beijing on Nov. 7, 2023. [Photo by Xu Xiang/China SCIO]

Over the past five years, the fire and rescue force has explored a new model of development, Qiong said. The force rolled out 462 reform measures and policies, made plans to set up six regional emergency rescue centers, and added airborne emergency rescue services. The number of fire and rescue stations across the country also increased from 7,032 to 9,657.

Thanks to the strong support from the central government, the fire and rescue team has achieved remarkable progress in its work, Qiong said. 

Over the last half-decade, the central government has released guidelines on reform of fire control law enforcement, and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has twice amended the Fire Control Law and conducted inspections on law enforcement. Moreover, 21 local laws, 34 government regulations, and 295 industry standards concerning fire and rescue were introduced or revised, providing legal support for fire safety work, Qiong said.

Moreover, the public's awareness of fire safety has been significantly enhanced. There are now over 100,000 registered firefighting engineers and 1.4 million people with special firefighting skills, the administrator said.

In addition, the prevention and control of major safety risks has been effectively intensified. The fire and rescue force has conducted a three-year fire safety campaign with focus on high-rise buildings, large commercial complexes, and other high-risk areas. National authorities have overseen nearly 95 major and regional fire risks, and local authorities have supervised the rectification of over 43 million fire risks, Qiong said. 

As a result, the number of major fire accidents across the country has dropped by 35% over the past five years, Qiong said.

To further improve its comprehensive capability, the fire and rescue force has built joint training mechanism with emergency forces of the military and professional rescue teams from all walks of life, greatly enhancing the synergy among those forces in the rescue work of major disasters, Qiong said.