Adoler

Guilin, located in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, is known as the “best of mountains and rivers in the world”. Its “green mountains, beautiful water, unique peaks, and exquisite caves” are the four wonders of the world, and it is known as a world-renowned scenic tourist city. Domestic and foreign tourists flock in, and fire safety is particularly important. In recent years, the local fire department has combined reality, deeply explored regional advantages and resources, cleverly utilized some foreign tourists who have settled in Guilin for a long time, integrated foreign fire culture elements, and created a volunteer team of firefighters with foreign participation, becoming the “golden signboard” of Guilin’s fire safety promotion.

Volunteer firefighter for 10 years: Roland

Yangshuo West Street is located in the center of Yangshuo County, with a history of over 1400 years. It has a marble road surface, a curved S-shaped shape, and ancient buildings with strong local characteristics. It is the oldest and busiest street in Yangshuo County, and also one of the well-known tourist attractions in the country. The Lianpian Lou West Street, with a total length of about 810 meters and a width of 6 meters, has more than 170 storefronts, mostly antique buildings with low fire resistance and high fire risk, which has always been a major challenge in fire prevention work. Especially in recent years, an increasing number of foreign friends have settled down for a long time and opened businesses here. So the problem arose, when firefighters came to their homes to carry out work, cultural differences and language communication became obstacles to the work.

“Hello, 119? A shop on West Street is on fire! Come and put out the fire!” “Okay, the fire brigade will be here soon!” Four fire patrol members who were conducting fire inspections and maintaining order nearby heard the fire signal and quickly ran back to the team. They put on their fire extinguishing suits, took out the fire pump, started a small tool truck, and rushed towards the fire site. In just 3 minutes, firefighters rushed to a shop 400 meters away, connecting fire hydrants, laying fire hoses, and receiving water guns. The water jets from the water guns quickly extinguished the fire, and the onlookers and passing tourists applauded warmly. This is a scene of a recent fire drill conducted by members of the Yangshuo West Street Micro Fire Station.

Seemingly a simple fire drill, few people know the story inside, which starts with Dutch young man Roland. In this cross-border fire drill, Roland participated in practical projects such as receiving, dispatching, and extinguishing fires. More than 10 years ago, Roland came from the Netherlands to settle in Yangshuo and opened a specialty store. In Yangshuo West Street, there are over 5000 permanent foreign residents like Roland, also known as “Foreigner Street” by locals. With the continuous deepening of fire protection work, the problems encountered have become increasingly prominent. The local fire department has started to think: since there are language differences, if they were to communicate and exchange ideas on their own, the problem would be easily solved, wouldn’t it? The firefighters first found Roland and explained their purpose. Unexpectedly, Roland readily agreed to cooperate with the fire department to participate in this work. In this way, Roland became a volunteer firefighter. Under his leadership, more and more foreign friends joined the volunteer firefighter team. They usually distribute promotional brochures to tourists who come to the store, reminding them of relevant fire safety knowledge, and regularly participate in fire drills as members of the mini fire station.

The bustling tourists on West Street changed one wave after another. This old street has always been bustling and bustling, never changing. What changes is that the fire protection facilities on the street are gradually updated every year. In the micro fire station at the end of the West Street alley, Roland and the firefighters are busy with different tasks every day, never stopping. They inspect fire hydrants, distribute promotional materials, conduct fire drills, and so on. Their fire safety plans also constantly update with the seasons.

Linda’s Firefighter Fate

“Being able to become a ‘female firefighter’ is our honor. Sara from the United States and Linda from the Netherlands are also firefighters. They have been tourists and long-term residents for several years, and since becoming off duty firefighters, they have become celebrities in the ‘global village’ of Yangshuo.”.

Linda told me that in the Netherlands, fire safety is a very important thing, and firefighters are also the most respected profession. Unexpectedly, in China, she felt honored to become a “firefighter”. Speaking of the connection with firefighting, it is due to a special experience. A few years ago, a friend of hers got lost while traveling in Yangshuo and was trapped on the mountain. While feeling extremely anxious, local firefighters arrived in time to safely send her friend back. At that time, she was grateful for the selfless help of Chinese firefighters. After settling down, by chance, she heard that she was going to organize a fire volunteer team with foreigners, so she registered with Sara.

When it comes to this “special” job in a foreign land, Sarah and Linda seem very proud. Sara said, “So far, we have distributed tens of thousands of flyers and participated in hundreds of fire safety inspections. We can also leverage our language advantage to popularize fire safety knowledge to foreign friends who come here for tourism and residence.” Speaking of these, they looked excited and occasionally came up with many professional terms, like old firefighters. They said that in the future, more foreign friends should be mobilized to participate in fire safety publicity.

During the visit, the author also met other fire volunteers. Although they have different nationalities, they all regard fire safety work in their residential areas as their responsibilities and often carry out self inspection and self correction of fire hazards. During the peak tourist season, they even spontaneously distribute fire safety brochures to tourists and promote fire safety knowledge.

Liao Yuping, the captain of the Yangshuo County Fire Brigade, said that these foreign firefighters and volunteers are usually busy with their own tasks. When needed, they invite them to the micro fire station to collect fire safety brochures and provide fire safety publicity and rescue services for tourists.

“Do you know that blocking fire exits is illegal?” “It’s not right to pile up debris around fire hydrants.” “Your fire extinguisher has expired and needs to be replaced in a timely manner.” This series of professional firefighting problems are just a piece of cake to these foreign firefighters. “.

“When we do propaganda work together, it can be said that we learn from each other. In recent years, my English level has improved very quickly,” said Xiao Li of the fire brigade proudly. Other firefighters also have this feeling, and over time, they have formed deep friendships with foreign friends. According to statistics, in recent years, these foreign firefighters have participated in more than 150 fire drills, dealt with more than 20 initial fires, and participated in more than 3100 fire safety inspections and various fire publicity activities.

Simon Higgins’ Chinese Dream

In this volunteer team of firefighters, when it comes to Simon Higgins from Australia, many people will give him a thumbs up and give him a thumbs up.

The true understanding between the author and Simon Higgins was at the ceremony when he was officially hired as the Fire Propaganda Ambassador of Guilin City. This foreign fire propagandist was tall and handsome, able to speak fluent Chinese. When explaining fire safety knowledge, he skillfully used body language to make the presentation more vivid and interesting, attracting the attention of many children and winning their favor.

After interacting with him many times, I found out that Simon Higgins still has many identities. He is a famous Australian youth fiction writer, and many of his works have been published in the international market and have won the love of young people from various countries. He is also an Asian cultural ambassador awarded by the Australian government’s Asian Education Foundation and the founder of the original English international version of the anime public service advertisement series “Coco Little Love”. This drama is produced through the anime baby Coco Little Love family, To interpret themes such as “civic morality, ecological protection, humanistic care, civilized etiquette, children’s moral cultivation, and safety education”.

“Is Uncle Simon here? He talks about fire safety knowledge so vividly and interestingly.” Whenever children visit the fire station, they always ask Simon about it. It can be imagined the popularity of this foreign fire volunteer. In the eyes of the children, Simon Higgins is like Uncle Firefighter.

“Becoming a fire safety ambassador in Guilin is my pride, and my Chinese dream is to enable more children to learn and master fire safety knowledge, and learn more self-protection skills.” During the conversation with Simon Higgins, I can feel his enthusiasm for this job. He said that he is particularly willing to be with children and also willing to tell some stories about Australian firefighting history and firefighters, which is a good channel for cultural exchange between China and Australia.

Simon Higgins also talked about his other dream of coming to China, which is to integrate fire safety knowledge with his self created public welfare drama “Coco Little Love”, spread throughout China and the world, and enable more people to learn and master evacuation and self rescue knowledge through listening to and watching public welfare dramas, and better protect themselves.