Fires, drownings, falling into caves, collapsed buildings, flooded houses, drug rescues, getting stuck in elevators, falling trees... These situations happen every day, and people always need help to respond.
"Brothers, prepare the vehicles and move quickly," is the order that for over 22 years, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Chi Thanh (Deputy Captain of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Team of Ho Chi Minh City Police) and his teammates have urgently carried out every time they receive a report from the people.
Entering the industry at the age of 20, Thanh's haunting memory was when he saw people panicking and jumping from high floors to escape the fire at the International Trade Center building in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, which killed 60 people and injured about 200 in 2002.
For more than 22 years, Mr. Thanh has been moving from Fire Prevention to Rescue with only one wish - "to save people, save property for the people, save what is left from what is lost".
"When I was young, I always wanted to be a superhero and save people. Whatever other people couldn't do, I would do. Then life gave me the choice and the right job to do," said Lieutenant Colonel Chi Thanh.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Chi Thanh met us at the PC07 headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department, when he had just left the training place for young soldiers to prepare for the competition of the industry. Lieutenant Colonel Thanh's day starts at 5:30 and ends late at night, with a full training program. And when there is an incident, regardless of time, what he is doing, or where he is, this police officer still goes on duty.
His tanned skin seemed unable to withstand the sun any longer. Thanh smiled kindly and said, "My family once had two younger siblings who drowned. They only surfaced a few days later. Shrimp and fish had nibbled away at their bodies, leaving them completely intact. The family was very saddened.
When I saw how meaningful the rescue team's activities were, I immediately applied to join. Then I was taught how to swim, dive, and deal with corpses... Doing so much made me proficient in the profession and saw the meaning of the job."
Mr. Thanh is originally from Thai Binh and grew up in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City. Due to his family's difficult circumstances, after finishing high school, he did not have the opportunity to continue his studies like his friends and instead joined the police force. After 3 years, the organization had 3 areas for training and education: mobile police, target protection and fire prevention.
Having no choice, he was assigned to the Fire Prevention and Fighting Department. Because he had a passion for rescue, when he wrote his application, he wrote casually, "When the unit is established and has a rescue team, I will apply to join there."
After 6 months in the Fire Prevention and Fighting Team, police officer Thanh saw a unit (the Emergency Team of the PC23 Central Team) specializing in searching for bodies of drowned people, victims of water accidents, diving to find evidence in cases... so he applied to transfer there.
" More than 22 years, very passionate" is the phrase that Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh kept repeating throughout the conversation.
Since entering the profession, he has participated in nearly 1,000 cases with all kinds of jobs. From searching for living people to finding dead bodies, rescuing mentally ill people on drugs who were climbing dangerously, rescuing collapsed buildings, catching snakes in houses, rescuing beehives, overturned tankers, flooded houses, fallen trees, diving to find evidence in cases...
Whenever people need support, rescue forces like Mr. Thanh are there.
For Thanh, "love for humanity" is the reason and motivation for him to pursue this career. Recalling memories throughout his career as a rescuer, Lieutenant Colonel Thanh cannot forget the incident in Ha Giang in December 2020. At that time, the victim fell into a cave about 280m deep for 13 days.
He said this was an "unprecedented case in Vietnam", and Ho Chi Minh City had never had a rescue model in a deep cave like this.
"Why did you volunteer to go down?", I asked.
"I am the experienced one in the group so I volunteered to do it. The cave is small and narrow, only one person can go down," Thanh replied.
The unprecedented decision to go down the cave in a split second made this man hesitate between two thoughts. That is, if he continued, he would likely lose his life, leaving his wife and children to grieve, but if he stopped, the victim would remain in the deep cave forever, the family's pain would remain there forever.
"I think a lot. I always put myself in the shoes of those whose loved ones are in trouble, how much pain they will feel. And the mission of the rescue police is to save people, because of love for humanity, I have to do it," the Lieutenant Colonel confided.
In early August 2021, a young officer of District 6 Police (HCMC) died while chasing a violator. In August 2022, 3 firefighters died in a karaoke bar fire in Hanoi .
Most recently, at the end of July, 3 traffic police officers sacrificed their lives on Bao Loc Pass while rescuing landslides… They were all comrades of Mr. Thanh, participating in supporting rescue efforts for the people but unfortunately sacrificed their lives. These were great and heartbreaking losses for the police force and the people.
"The police have many different tasks, and every field is dangerous. You live by your profession and die by your own, every job is the same. But the job you choose, the responsibility you have to fulfill. Hearing the news of your comrade's sacrifice, I was very saddened, because I understand the loss, the ultimate pain.
But that doesn't mean we should give up, we have to do our job better so that our teammates' sacrifices are not in vain," Thanh said.
The Deputy Captain of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Team PC07 himself also faced many dangers while performing his duties.
In the Ha Giang incident, with the primitive cave, the risk of lack of oxygen or encountering toxic gas was very high, not to mention the cave was too deep. The rain that lasted all night made the cave even more humid, and Mr. Thanh was cold to the bone.
The cave was pitch black, the only source of light was a flashlight the size of a chicken egg attached to the front of his helmet. Sharp rocks pointed in all directions as if threatening to cut into his flesh, and there were sections with no oxygen, making the journey down the cave even more difficult for this police officer.
"In addition to experience, health also requires courage. There are cases where the life-and-death ratio is 5:5, 7:3. Safety is sometimes only 30% but I accept the loss on my part, prioritizing saving people is the mission of a rescue soldier," said Mr. Thanh.
As he groped his way down the cave, he heard a rumbling sound, and then rocks and soil poured down from the cave mouth. At this time, the radio signal was lost. Thanh decided to climb back up and wait for the rain to stop. But at this time, the device supporting the axis movement suddenly stopped working. In a dilemma, he was left hanging in the middle of the cave for an hour.
"At that time, I panicked, thinking that the possibility of being sacrificed was high. The smell of the corpses that had been there for a long time became even stronger when it rained," the police officer recalled.
When the rain stopped and the radio signal was restored, Thanh reached the bottom of the cave. He put the body in a bag, tied the rope securely so that his teammates above could pull him up.
The process of lifting the body was also extremely difficult, water from the body flowed back down to Thanh's body. But he was still hugged tightly by his teammates. The victim's family burst into tears, continuously clasping their hands to thank the rescue team.
Previously, at the end of November 2019, Mr. Thanh also participated in the rescue of a person who fell into a deep cave in Cao Bang. It was also a "difficult case" because the cave was 220m deep, local rescue forces could not reach the scene, and the victim had been in the cave for 3 years.
That time Thanh also volunteered to go down the cave, personally cleared the rocks, picked up each piece of bone from the victim's remains and brought them to the surface.
For the Lieutenant Colonel, the two rescues in Ha Giang and Cao Bang were miracles for the force. "Both cases were unprecedented and very difficult. Without determination, it would not have been possible," Thanh shared.
After more than 22 years on the job, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Chi Thanh admits that "he almost sacrificed himself as often as he ate." Up to this point, he feels lucky to be safe.
"I have no other wish than to receive orders to arrive at the destination, carry out the task as quickly as possible, help the people, and then return safely to my loved ones," Thanh confided.
The work of soldiers like Mr. Thanh is not proactive, all work arises unexpectedly. 24 hours a day, training, being on duty, rushing to the scene of rescue, so time for family is very rare.
In addition to the attention and direction of commanders at all levels and the solidarity and support of comrades, he emphasized that the most important thing is that the rear must be truly solid.
Thanh got married at the age of 30, after five years of dating. "I'm lucky to have an understanding wife. I'm happy because my family fully supports me," Thanh said, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
With a humorous nature and full of positive energy, every time he set out on a mission, no matter how simple or serious, Mr. Thanh would say he was on a business trip, then smile to reassure his wife. When he arrived, he would call home and say "it's easy, it's normal" and felt "there's no need to go into details".
"My wife said that as long as I can pick up the phone, I feel secure. As for this job, every task is dangerous. Every job has its own difficulties," said the Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Team PC07.
He has two daughters, who are also his "only idols". The two daughters love their father, study very well, have a talent for swimming, and are currently national youth swimming champions.
"Because my family is poor, in the past, when I was on duty, I took my daughter with me. Sometimes when I was doing rescue work, I took her along. She observed and saw her father's work. Now that she's grown up and reads the newspaper, she understands her father's work. She tells her father to be careful and come back to her after the rescue," the Lieutenant Colonel said.
Mr. Thanh always feels that he owes his family. Therefore, besides work, whenever he has spare time, he dedicates it all to his family, as a way to make up for it. From cleaning the house, cooking, doing laundry for the children...
"For me, family is very important, I am grateful to them. My wife sacrificed a lot, quit her job to take care of the children. I went to the battlefield, they stayed home to worry, couldn't eat or sleep well, I understand that," Thanh was emotional, his eyes filled with tears.
Although he considers work as his life, it was not until last March that his family was able to have their own house - a gift from a benefactor. Before that, he and his wife and children rented a house and moved to a new room so often that his daughter asked, "Why do we move so much, Dad?"
"I don't live a materialistic life, just having enough food and clothes is enough. If I don't care about material things, I'll be poor, but the important thing is that I'm rich in love for people and doing useful work. Being ugly on the outside and beautiful on the inside is enough. Living in a rented house is still fun and happy. My wife shares this thought," Thanh happily said.
A task that Mr. Thanh believes is equally important as working in the industry is training and educating young soldiers. "Must have a love for people" is what the Lieutenant Colonel considers a prerequisite when choosing to pursue a career in the CNCH.
"The important thing is to teach positive energy, the meaning of work, and professional ethics to the students. This is all from practice. One person goes missing but hundreds of people are waiting to find him. When I find him, I always analyze for the students the mission and meaning of the job when I return to the unit. Whatever you do, you have to put your heart into it," said Mr. Thanh.
The Lieutenant Colonel continued: "Do whatever makes life better and makes you happy. You have to be happy and enjoy it to do it. If you say something is too high-level but you don't enjoy it or enjoy it, you're just forcing yourself to do it for a few months or years. But passion can overcome anything."
However, Mr. Thanh also acknowledged that separate policies for the rescue force are still limited, so they have not attracted many people to join the industry. He hopes that leaders at all levels will pay more attention to policies and regimes for soldiers and new technical equipment to meet job requirements.
Looking at himself, Mr. Thanh sees that sweet fruits will come when he is dedicated and devoted to his work. Most recently, he and his teammates were honored and proud to join a special mission of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, searching and rescuing victims in Türkiye. At the end of the mission, the Ministry of Public Security's rescue team saved the life of a 17-year-old boy and found 14 victims' bodies and brought them out.
The team carried more than 2 tons of equipment, traveled for more than 24 hours, in bitterly cold weather, arrived at a place with no water or electricity. Thanh and his teammates dug in the rubble from early morning until after 6pm. When the sonar detected life, he used his remaining senses, eyes looking into the cracks, nose smelling, mouth calling. Hearing a response, Thanh was urged to dig continuously.
"There was something that made me dig there, because before that, other groups had searched here but couldn't find it. I used my hands to dig a hole and crawl in, and twice the rocks collapsed, but I thought even if it meant death, I had to go in, and as long as I could save the victims, Vietnam would have a place in search and rescue. And the miracle happened," Thanh recounted.
The Turkish people were touched and grateful to the Vietnamese rescue team. They were touched and hugged the force. "Wherever we go, we hang the Vietnamese flag at the location where we are performing our mission, the flag flutters proudly. When the other country asked us which country we were from, we said Vietnam. They put their hands on their chests to show their gratitude and admiration," said Mr. Thanh.
Last June, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Chi Thanh was honored to be the only individual and six other groups to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the President for their outstanding achievements in maintaining political security, order, and social safety, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland.
" Every morning when I wake up, I still feel like I'm dreaming. When I think about it, my skin crawls, and I can't imagine it's true. I just do my best at work with my conscience and responsibility, and then the results will come. Being awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces is beyond my imagination. In the fire prevention and fighting force, there has never been a case of anyone receiving this honor. Sitting here, I still feel proud and floating on clouds," Thanh smiled.
Admitting that his health is not good and he has many illnesses due to hard work, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Chi Thanh affirmed that if he had to choose again, he would still choose to work in rescue.
"I've already done this job and now I'm stuck. Sitting here talking like this, maybe tomorrow it won't be there, who knows. I have to accept this job, if I do it, I'm not afraid," said Mr. Thanh.
Dantri.com.vn
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