China mourns Sichuan forest fire victims as details of their lives emerge
03 April 2019
Published by https://www.scmp.com
CHINA – Two teenagers and a newly married fireman were among the victims of a deadly forest fire in southwest China, it has emerged.
Sunday’s fire, in a remote, mountainous area of Muli county, Liangshan prefecture, was the deadliest incident involving firefighters since 2015, when an explosion at a chemical warehouse in Tianjin killed 173, most of whom were firefighters and first responders.
The victims of the forest fire were mainly young men in their twenties and thirties and included 27 firefighters and three civilian helpers.
The youngest firefighters, Xu Penglong and Wang Fojun, were only 18 years old and had entered the fire service less than two years ago.
The civilian first responders included two officials from the local forestry bureau.
Several screenshots of the victims’ final WeChat posts, with photos taken on their way to the fire, went viral on Weibo on Tuesday amid widespread national mourning.
One of the dead firemen, Zhang Hao posted an image of a line of several fire engines heading to the scene with a message that read: “Now we’re setting off, it’s Muli again! My heart is full of complex feelings ha ha.”
Zhang, one of the leaders of the Liangshan prefecture fire brigade, had recently got married, the online news site Toutiao reported.
Other posts by Zhang described his daily life as a firefighter and shed light on the sacrifices he had to make in the job.
“I had only just started my twice-a-month weekend leave when there was another fire,” he wrote in another undated post.
“My brothers were too kind, they brought my firefighting kit and drove straight to my house to pick me up. This is the daily life of a grassroots firefighter.”
Another brigade leader, 29-year-old Jiang Feifei, posted a WeChat video on Sunday of his brigade driving off into the dark.
Many Weibo users hailed the victims as martyrs and heroes for their service.
“What we need are fighters, not martyrs! Please take care of our relatives,” read one comment with over 55,000 likes.
“The post-90s generation, who once were the most looked down upon, had no hesitation in sacrificing their lives in the rescue efforts when the people needed them the most. They and the new generation born after 2000 are carrying the heaviest burdens of this time,” commented another.
