Firefighter recounts the minutes of rescuing 3 people trapped in a fire in Hanoi

From the determination of the commander

At about 2:50 a.m. on February 24, authorities received a fire report at a house located at 357 Quynh Alley, Quynh Loi Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi .

The Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hai Ba Trung District Police promptly rescued 3 people, including a 6-month-old baby, from a fire in Quynh Loi Ward.

Hanoi City Police dispatched 4 fire trucks and 30 officers and soldiers from Hai Ba Trung District Police and Hoan Kiem District Police to the scene to put out the fire. The Fire Prevention and Rescue Force (PCCC&CNCH) rescued 3 people trapped inside and extinguished the fire.

Major Nguyen Van Luong, Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hai Ba Trung District Police, shared that immediately after receiving the news, Major Luong and officers and soldiers moved to the scene in 2 fire trucks carrying equipment.

" On the way, I asked the information team to determine the location of the water source, because the house is located in a deep alley and has 2 approaches. Based on the actual assessment, we chose Minh Khai street, because there are many fire hydrants that can maintain a regular, long-term water source, " said Major Luong.

Major Nguyen Van Luong, Deputy Head of Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team, Hai Ba Trung District Police.

According to Major Luong, from Minh Khai street where the fire truck parked to the house where the fire broke out, it was about 400m, which was quite a long distance to deploy to fight the fire. Therefore, Major Luong directly went with 2 officers and soldiers to scout the fire first. After grasping the situation, the fire was complicated, with many victims trapped inside.

At the same time, the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hoan Kiem District Police also arrived at the scene, directly commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hoan Kiem District Police.

The fire commanders of the two units agreed on firefighting and rescue tactics. At this time, the fire on the first floor had flared up very large, and showed signs of spreading to the second floor and causing heat to the third floor.

" There were three victims trapped in the balcony area, two on the second floor and one on the third floor. We deployed rescue from the outside of the house using ladders and used hydraulic cutters to cut the iron bars ," Lieutenant Colonel Binh recalled.

Major Nguyen Van Luong explained that the fire department rescued people first because when the victims were trapped on high ground and they were both rescuing and extinguishing the fire on the first floor, when water was sprayed on them, a lot of smoke would escape, affecting the victims above. Therefore, the fire department agreed to rescue people first and then extinguish the fire.

" After about 2 minutes of cutting the bars of the 2nd floor, I personally worked with an officer of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hoan Kiem District Police to bring the 2 victims on the 2nd floor down safely ," Major Luong recounted.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team, Hoan Kiem District Police.

To the bravery of the fire fighters

Under the direction of the fire fighting commander, Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Viet Quan, Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hoan Kiem District Police, directly held a hydraulic cutter on the ladder to cut down the tiger cage on the second floor of the house and coordinated with officers and soldiers of the Hai Ba Trung Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team to bring the two victims down safely.

Continuing to return to the scene on the second floor of the scout house, Lieutenant Quan discovered that the fire had spread from the first floor up. " I used the fire hose to spray the fire to open a path to the third floor. If I sprayed the fire source for a long time, the heat would press up to the third floor and affect the remaining victims trapped there ," Lieutenant Quan said.

According to Lieutenant Quan, at the time of rescuing the two victims on the second floor, the victim on the third floor cried out for help very loudly and showed signs of being unable to move and panicking.

" When I just entered the tiger cage area on the 3rd floor, I immediately calmed the victim and asked for the cooperation of my colleagues from the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hai Ba Trung District Police to use a hydraulic cutter to cut the iron bars of the tiger cage ," Lieutenant Quan recalled.

After creating an escape route, Lieutenant Quan went out first and applied rescue measures to bring the victim down safely. However, due to the long time in the fire, the victim also suffered burns and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Lieutenant Quan shared that when he discovered the victim, he was very anxious. Even though the wooden stairs were on fire, he crossed them to get from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor as quickly as possible.

" When I saw the victim, I only thought about how to get the victim down to ensure their safety. When we brought them out safely, for firefighters like us, there was no emotion that could be described, " said Senior Lieutenant Quan.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hoan Kiem District Police, said that the firefighters were very brave when they crossed the fire and smoke to approach and calm the victims, then used measures to help them breathe.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Binh, to have that skill and spirit, the City Police regularly organize training courses on firefighting, rescue, and equipment use for fire officers and soldiers, and at the same time, during their shifts, they practice proficiently operating equipment, physical strength, techniques, etc.

" When we are officers and soldiers approaching the scene of a fire, we try to rescue people and ensure safety. With that spirit, we overcome difficulties and dangers, ready to receive and complete assigned tasks, " said Lieutenant Colonel Binh.

Meeting of fire prevention officers and soldiers of Hoan Kiem District Police.

Typical fire

According to Major Nguyen Van Luong, Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Hai Ba Trung District Police, in reality, in the organization of fire fighting, each fire has different developments, however, the above fire is a typical example of a house combined with business, a tube house with 1 exit which is the entrance door and 1 staircase.

" Because the distance from the fire truck to the house is very far, this is one of the reasons for the difficulty in organizing fire fighting and rescue. Because we determine that time in fire fighting is extremely important, the shorter the approach to the fire, the less damage to people and property will be, " said Major Luong.

Major Luong commented that most fires that occur at night involve people, so when arriving at the scene, the fire commander must be extremely quick and decisive in making decisions to organize the evacuation of victims and put out the fire.

" Just making one wrong decision can have huge consequences... ", Major Luong shared.

The fire prevention commander said that the victims of today's fire had been trained and attended fire prevention and fighting training and education classes in residential areas. Because for a normal person in a dangerous environment, everyone would want to move down and find places like toilets with water to hide.

" The victims moved to an open area, proactively used blankets to cover themselves so that the fire and smoke would not affect them as much and waited for professional firefighters to come and rescue them ," said Major Luong.

(Source: Tien Phong)

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