Injured firefighting sergeant recounts the night he was ready to sacrifice himself to save people in a mini apartment building

(Dan Tri) - During the rescue at the mini apartment building in lane 29/70 Khuong Ha, 20-year-old corporal Quoc Trung was haunted by the sight of people jumping in front of him, including a 4-year-old child.

Three days after being discharged from the hospital, Corporal Nguyen Quoc Trung (20 years old, Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team, Thanh Xuan District Police, Hanoi ) officially returned to work. After nearly 10 days of treatment at Bach Mai Hospital due to CO poisoning, his health is now stable.

During the team meeting early Monday morning, Trung and his teammates met to review the experience of the mini apartment fire in lane 29/70 Khuong Ha (Khuong Dinh ward, Thanh Xuan district), and proposed more effective solutions for future unfortunate incidents.

"I have never seen such a terrible and haunting fire," Trung said, choking back tears as he recalled the terrifying memories of the night of September 12.

Corporal Nguyen Quoc Trung, 20 years old, Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team, Thanh Xuan District Police, Hanoi (Photo: Minh Nhan).

Racing against fire until exhausted

At 11:23 p.m. on September 12, the alarm rang at the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Thanh Xuan District Police. The news was that there was a fire in a mini apartment building in alley 29 Khuong Ha, with many people suspected to be trapped.

Trung and his teammates were sleeping, so they quickly got up, prepared their clothes and equipment, and jumped into two fire trucks. After about 3-5 minutes, the unit's vehicles approached the scene. "It was not a simple fire," Trung recalled.

The alley is deep and narrow, the first floor of the building is for motorbikes, professional experience tells the whole team that tonight's fire will be serious. As predicted, the fire truck had to be parked nearly 400m away from the scene. More than 100 soldiers from the fire prevention forces of the Ministry of Public Security , the Fire Police University and the Hanoi City Police, carrying tools ran from the street into the alley.

The Thanh Xuan district team split into two groups awaiting command: one rescue group and one firefighting group. Trung was part of the rescue team, wearing a breathing apparatus, gas mask and equipment, and was the first to approach the scene.

While the rescue team moves, the fire fighting team coordinates to cool down and reduce the heat so that teammates can enter the scene.

The 9-storey mini apartment building was engulfed in a huge fire accompanied by the sound of exploding batteries. The first floor had dozens of motorbikes, none of which were intact, and the forces had difficulty finding the stairs to the next floors.

The fire was raging to the upper floors, the approach to the stairs encountered a lot of smoke and heat, the police were forced to switch to an outside rescue plan.

Firefighters and medical staff carry injured victims out of the scene on the night of September 12 (Photo: Nguyen Hai - Tran Thanh).

As Trung and his teammates began the rescue, some victims jumped from the upper floors to the ground. This was what haunted the 20-year-old corporal the most, as four civilians jumped down in front of him, including a four-year-old child.

The sudden jumps left Trung motionless for a moment. "I have participated in many rescue missions, but this is the first time I have witnessed such a heartbreaking scene. Standing between life and death and in a state of panic, they chose to jump," Trung said.

The firefighter frantically shouted for residents not to jump, and called on people nearby to support him by stacking 40-50 sleeping mats and blankets on top of each other, in case other victims continued to jump. Meanwhile, he and his teammates carried the injured and dead out of the ambulance.

From 1:30 a.m., the fire was basically under control, the force started to move with the hose to the upper floors of the mini apartment building to rescue people. If there were small victims, Trung would carry them out, for adults who were too weak to move, the two soldiers would coordinate. They used blankets to roll the victims into a circle, support them down, and then take them to the ambulance.

"We scanned around and clearly felt the heat deep inside the scene," Trung said, describing that after only about 1-2 minutes, his breathing became heavier and more dizzying for those unfamiliar, but he tried to endure the pressure.

The forces were divided into groups of three people, taking turns entering and leaving the scene. Each shift lasted 15-20 minutes, the longest being 30 minutes. "Many soldiers were enthusiastic, no matter how tired they were, they still tried to maintain their work, so that their teammates could rest longer," Trung said.

Emergency care after 4 hours of "fighting" the fire

At 3:30 a.m., after completing the rescue on the third floor, Corporal Quoc Trung went to the car to rest and wait for the reinforcement team. He sat down, feeling dizzy, having difficulty breathing, pain in his left chest and his limbs were convulsing.

His teammates found him exhausted and quickly called the paramedics. However, after a period of first aid, he showed no signs of improvement and was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital for emergency treatment. The remaining forces continued the rescue until 7:30 a.m., waiting for other teams to arrive at the destroyed apartment building.

Leaders of Hanoi City Police visited and encouraged Corporal Nguyen Quoc Trung, September 17 (Photo: Hanoi Police).

At Bach Mai Hospital, Trung had his blood drawn for testing and was given an IV. Doctors concluded that he had carbon monoxide poisoning and sinusitis. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment, sharing a room with four other victims who were residents of the mini-apartment.

"I have had many minor injuries at work before, but this is the first time I have been hospitalized," he said.

Receiving the phone call informing her that her son was in an emergency, Mrs. Doan Thi Hoan (55 years old) rushed from her hometown of Van Dinh (Ung Hoa district, Hanoi) straight to Bach Mai Hospital. Seeing Trung lying on the hospital bed, his face black, she felt both sad and sorry for her son.

Since Trung joined the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Thanh Xuan District Police, every time she saw a fire truck on the street, Mrs. Hoan was very worried, wondering if her son was participating in the firefighting or not, so she called to ask. But she did not expect that one day her son would be injured and hospitalized.

Every day, Mrs. Hoan went from her home in Nguyen Xien to Bach Mai Hospital to take care of her child, leaving in the morning and returning in the evening. Not wanting her mother to stay overnight at the hospital, Trung repeatedly advised her to go home and spend the night.

Firefighters approached the scene from the house next door, rescuing trapped victims on the night of September 12 (Photo: Tran Thanh).

Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, said that upon receiving the information and determining that this was a catastrophic emergency, on the night of September 12, the Hospital Board of Directors directed the reinforcement of forces and emergency teams, coordinating with specialties such as: Emergency Resuscitation, Anti-Poisoning, Trauma to ensure the best treatment for the patient.

"The hospital focuses all resources on treating and caring for the victims as if they were their own relatives," Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co directed.

Sharing about the case of the fire police officer hospitalized with the victims, Dr. Le Quang Thuan, Deputy Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, said that patient Nguyen Quoc Trung was transferred to the Poison Control Center at 3:44 a.m. on September 13 in a state of consciousness, able to communicate but very tired, exhausted, and had to be supported.

"The patient had a sore throat, dizziness, convulsions in his limbs, and his whole body was covered in black smoke. After an ENT endoscopy, we discovered that the patient had acute sinusitis on a chronic basis," said Dr. Thuan.

According to the doctor, Trung received a daily hospital-wide consultation immediately after being admitted, and was prescribed specialized interventions such as bronchoscopy, chest CT scan, brain MRI, and mental status assessment...

In addition, he was treated with a diagnosis of inhaling toxic gases from the fire; he was actively treated according to the protocol, antibiotics, symptomatic treatment, respiratory rehabilitation and other support.

After much care by medical staff, most of the patients have stabilized. After examination and consultation, 10 cases were eligible for discharge on the afternoon of September 22, including Corporal Nguyen Quoc Trung.

"Patient Trung's condition is stable, he was discharged for outpatient treatment and re-examination as scheduled," Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Giap, Deputy Director in charge of professional affairs at Bach Mai Hospital, shared at the farewell ceremony for the patients.

When they learned that Trung was both a firefighter and a discharged patient, many residents of the mini apartment building came forward to shake his hand, thank him, and at the same time, on behalf of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Thanh Xuan District Police and other forces.

"This is not my own achievement, but the whole team and the whole force," he said.

Corporal Nguyen Quoc Trung at the unit, morning of September 25 (Photo: Minh Nhan).

"As a firefighter, I am ready to sacrifice"

During his days in the hospital, Trung saw information about the mini apartment fire appearing on every media platform.

The tragic fire left 56 people dead and 37 injured. The Hanoi Police Investigation Agency announced that the cause of the fire was due to "an electrical short circuit in the electrical line in the battery area" located at the front of the scooter.

According to the results of the examination, the fire spread from the scooter to the electric cable area and the electric meter boxes installed on the wall on the first floor. After the fire, four fire extinguishers were taken for examination, the result was that three were not used.

After reading a few articles, the firefighter felt heavy-hearted and blamed himself for not being able to save many people. He reassured himself, limited his use of social media, and tried to adjust his mood.

Graduated from Phan Boi Chau High School (Hanoi), Trung joined the police service from February 16, 2021. After 3 months of training, he was transferred to the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Team of Thanh Xuan District Police.

On the first day of joining the team, Trung received a fire report. Arriving at the scene, he was quite bewildered and did not proactively react, "doing whatever he was told to do".

"Later, participating in many fires, I learned from the commander and teammates, and trained myself to be more courageous," Trung said.

The 9-storey mini apartment building where the horrific fire occurred on the night of September 12 (Photo: Manh Quan).

Over the past two years, there have been days when the corporal has been working on four fires from morning to night, without much time to rest. On other days, he is on duty 24/7 at the unit, participating in training sessions.

Regardless of the number of fires he had put out or the number of people he and his teammates had to rescue, he only knew to do his best to save the survivors.

Putting on the uniform of a firefighter, Trung knew it was a trade-off, ready to "sacrifice at any time". His teammates often told him that working in the firefighting force would not have the word "fear".

"We carry a great responsibility on our shoulders. If we are afraid, who will save the people? We know that if we don't die, we will be injured, but the top priority is always the people," the 20-year-old man said, reminding himself to raise his awareness of self-protection - "Because by protecting myself well, I can protect the people."

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