Heart fire

Chapter 18

The two disasters happened at the same time, which made the rescue and fire fighting work more difficult.When the special service team arrived, traffic control had been completed at the scene and a cordon had been pulled up.But unfortunately, just before the traffic police arrived, a semi-trailer carrying insecticide traveling east hit a water tanker straddling the middle of the road, and the water tanker was used to protect firefighters entering the forest area. staff.Immediately afterwards, the passenger car behind did not have time to brake, and rushed to the shoulder of the road to avoid a collision, knocked into the air a firefighter who was performing an investigation task, and slammed into the guardrail at the same time.

The firefighter's vital signs were weak when the ambulance left.

Xiang Yu and Xi Yang, who have been doing firefighting for so many years, have never heard of using fire trucks as cover on the highway.Fortunately, neither the passenger vehicle nor the semi-trailer caught fire, and the passengers had been evacuated. However, out of a rigorous attitude and distrust of those who failed in their duties, Tu Ke directed the special service team to search the vehicle again to ensure that everything was safe.

Xi Yang led the team to board the bus, carefully inspected the entire compartment including the floor and under the seats, and checked the power system and fuel conditions one by one, as well as tires, parts and household garbage in the car, etc., which may have potential fire hazards After confirming that there are no omissions and residues, the vehicle is cooled to prevent fire.

Members of the Wucheng Squadron and the Forest Fire Brigade had previously laid hoses to the forest area and entered. The special service received instructions to curb the spread of the fire, and then eliminate the remaining fire.Calculating the use time of the air call, Tu Ke ordered to notify the early personnel to withdraw from the rotation, and then arranged for the special service to join with backpack fire extinguishers and fire extinguishing water guns.

There is a steep ravine with a width of about 40 meters behind the guardrail. Firefighters need to use ropes to descend to the bottom and then climb to the other side to enter the forest area.Near midnight, fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and tow trucks coming to clear the obstacles were parked in the control section. The red and blue lights intersected each other. The sound of chaotic water.The outline of the mountain is integrated with the pitch-black night, and only the shadows of the trees can be discerned, but they are boundless.In the depths of the forest, fires and searchlights could be seen faintly flickering. Wherever they touched, the birds flew away in all directions, looking like phantoms and screaming shrilly.

The trees on the mountain are not luxuriant, and most of them are middle-level vegetation dominated by shrubs. After the fire, the temperature is not high, but the heat generated is also beyond the acceptable range of the human body. In addition, the shrubs are relatively light, easy to burn, and the flying fire and wind speed Weather and other factors will also speed up the spread of the fire.

"The bushes and the ground must be extinguished before the canopy fire forms." Tu Ke looked into the distance and said to Xi Yang and Xiang Yu.

After listening to the squadron's report on the preliminary work, Tu Ke immediately drew out the main attack area, issued a combat deployment, and made a good plan on how to abandon the local area to protect the overall situation once the fire is out of control, how to ensure reasonable water use, and how to guide the fire to a safe boundary. Prepare.

Wildland fires have no rules to follow. Once inside, people outside will face a situation where they cannot control the location of firefighters.Xi Yang suggested refuge areas and escape routes on the map, handed them over to Xiang Yu, checked their communication equipment again, and bumped into him and Tu Ke with their helmets to complete a small ceremony between the three of them. Encourage each other on each other's shoulders: "Go and return!"

Before stepping over the guardrail, Tu Ke called Xiang Yu: "What do you want to eat when I go back later? I asked Lao Fang to prepare it in advance."

Xiang Yu didn't look back, and shook the lifeline in his hand: "No need! I love to eat whatever he cooks!"

Tu Ke was expressionless, took a deep breath, and said to himself, fuck it.

In most cases, fires in no-man's land do not require search and rescue, but the visibility is low at night and the forest area is large. Xi Yang is still prepared. In case any team member is injured or lost, they will immediately enter the search and rescue.

The leaders of the corps closely watched the fighting situation at the scene in the command center.Tu Ke took off his helmet and held it in his arms. Looking at the black smoke rising above the forest area, he asked the forest fire brigade captain beside him, "What the hell is going on?"

The team leader shook his head: "The passing driver found out and called the police. I also wondered, if there is no thunder or lightning, these days are not too dry."

Even though he had learned about the search situation, Tu Ke asked again cautiously: "Are you sure there is no one?"

The team leader still shook his head: "No, my people were out of breath and didn't hear a response, and the thermal imager didn't find it either."

Then he said: "I heard that there are forest fire automatic warning systems in foreign countries, and there are also aircraft patrols. When will we have them?"

Tu Ke glanced at him with a half-smile, not knowing whether he thought he was ignorant or stupid: "How big is China's forest coverage? One system is [-] euros, not counting the cost of construction and high-altitude satellites. You Do the math for me, where do you think the money will come from? From your salary?"

Captain: "..."

Xi Yang stared intently at the intercom and monitoring system, listening to Tu Ke's mouth like firing a cannon, making him speechless.He felt very puzzled. The fire would not start without a reason. If it was not a natural disaster, it must be a man-made disaster. Therefore, before setting off, he also reminded Xiang Yu that he should pay attention to investigation when putting out the fire, and the possibility of arson cannot be ruled out.He looked at the map in his hand and asked the captain, "Which area did you search?"

The captain pointed it out to him on the map.

Xi Yang asked the people of Wucheng Squadron again: "Have you searched the top of the hill in the south?"

The people from Wucheng Squadron just came back, unloaded their equipment and sat on the ground in the sewage.One of them thought for a long time, scratched his head and said, "It seems that there is no search, and there is no fire."

like?Before Xi Yang could get angry, the chief of the forest fire brigade yelled: "Damn it, the southeast wind, it only takes 2 minutes to burn through! Didn't you just say search?"

Have you searched?There was chaos on the walkie-talkie just now, and the No. 80 people in several teams didn't know who listened to whom's command, who did whose work, and they didn't know what to ask.Everyone looked at me and looked at you, and they all looked at the squadron leader who ordered to use the fire truck as cover.Tu Ke suddenly became angry, and pressed the intercom to call Xiang Yu: "Old Xiang, how is the situation inside? The top of the southern hill needs to be searched again."

Xiang Yu quickly replied: "Received. The fire head and sides have been eliminated, and now the tail of the fire is being cleaned. The water supply is normal at present, and the problem is not serious."

If there are no trapped persons, at this time, the helicopter can cooperate to carry out a comprehensive cleaning from a high altitude.Tu Ke's face was extremely ugly, and Xi Yang was also very angry, but he could only persuade: "Calm down, Wucheng Squadron has no experience in fighting forest fires, and they didn't even wear special protective clothing. It's not a problem of one or two people."

After he talked about it, Tu Ke realized that fighting forest fires is a protracted battle. Ordinary fire-resistant clothing is too bulky, and wearing it for a long time can easily cause physical exhaustion and dehydration.Looking at all the teams, only the Wucheng Squadron was dressed differently from everyone else, and the fire protection suits of several people were damaged to varying degrees.

Xi Yang stopped a passing firefighter, stared at his elbow and asked, "What's going on? Is it burning?"

The firefighter raised his hand and followed his line of sight: "Yeah, there is something wrong with the quality of the clothes. Last month, a comrade in arms died, and the fireproof clothes were also burned..."

This is unreasonable.Xi Yang's expression suddenly became serious.It stands to reason that ordinary fireproof clothing does not have three layers but at least two layers, reflective layer, waterproof layer and heat insulation layer. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to burn in case of fire. It takes a certain burn time.

Xi Yang still wanted to ask more details. At this time, Xiang Yu's voice came from the intercom: "Command, six people were found trapped on the top of the south hill. They are all at high places. Now we are going to rescue them."

During the interval between his repetitions, Tu Ke glanced around fiercely, and immediately many people lowered their heads in shame.He gritted his teeth and replied: "Got it. Keep the communication open, report at any time, and pay attention to avoiding fire."

The images of the scene were directly displayed on the large screen of the command center of the corps through satellite transmission. Jiang Xu was the leader to supervise the battle, and Yao Hongwei was already on his way to the scene.Xi Yang looked up at the sky, feeling the subtle changes in the wind force, and told Yu through the intercom: "The bushes are too tall, don't use a wind machine to put out the fire, be careful of explosions, and be quick."

"Old Xiang, hurry up, hurry up."

After entering the forest area, Xiang Yuhe's team members went straight to the main attack area, stopped the fire and concentrated on fighting the fire.The wind at night is weaker than that during the day, the temperature is low, and the humidity is high. It is the best time to fight the initial fire, so the operation has been smooth.Immediately afterwards, he ordered a team of personnel to connect each other with lifelines to avoid getting lost, and then dispersed to clean up the peripheral fire and the tail of the spreading fire in groups. After receiving Tu Ke's instruction, he led a team of firefighters to march south along the outside of the fire line, and went to the top of the hill to search and rescue.

The top of the hill is not high, about six to 70 meters.The fire spread here by the direction of the wind, igniting a large area of ​​​​shrubs.After arriving, Xiang Yu first checked the air-breathing margin, and knew that they had to complete the fire fighting and rescue within 10 minutes, otherwise everyone's life and death would be unpredictable.

The six people trapped on the top of the mountain were all ordinary citizens. Xiang Yu shouted at them with a loudspeaker, instructing them to find places with sparse vegetation, remove flammable objects on their bodies and take self-protection measures to calm their emotions. The motorized chainsaw dug out the fire barrier, drew a safe zone, and began to fight along the fire line, extinguishing the fire that was spreading to the top of the mountain from the tail and two wings.

Thick smoke is not easy to gather in the mountains and forests, but sporadic flames are blown all over the sky by the wind and are difficult to control. They often ignite just after they are extinguished here.Although the equipment has been lightened as much as possible, the high heat and continuous intense work still make everyone's physical strength close to exhaustion, and only the sound of heavy breathing in the mask is left in the ears.

Xiang's deputy team was almost forty, but his agility was no less than that of a young man in his early twenties.It stands to reason that at this age, he should have quit the front line even if he was not promoted, but he stubbornly stayed in the special service, asking for money but not money, wanting power but not power, and he often quarreled with his family because of this.The wife complained, the mother-in-law was dissatisfied, and even the daughter refused to kiss him because she never saw each other.People often ask you what you want to do. His answer is not for the country and the people, not for fame and fortune, but for experienced old people and graduates from military academies.They are all hairless children in diapers, which one is not the sharp heart of their parents.When the fire came, I was nervous and couldn't tell whether to run with the wind or against the wind. They were safer with me.

There was no one in the secret service brigade who was older than him, and Tu Ke and Xi Yang were both children in his eyes.Faced with a leader younger than himself, Xiang Yu's high degree of obedience is admirable, which is a unique characteristic of veterans.If Tu Ke is a sharp sword edge, Xi Yang is a cold sword blade, then Xiang Yu is a thick scabbard. From the moment they came together, even before they had experienced a battle, they had already Form a tacit understanding.Yao Hongwei knows people well and cherishes talents, knowing that putting the three of them together is an invincible weapon, and this is what Tu Ke admires the most.

To Tu Ke and Xi Yang, Xiang Yu is not only a comrade-in-arms, but also a loyal and reliable deputy, but also a family member who is a kind elder, and also a big brother who is willing to be a good old man and always in peace.

Under his calm command and powerful drive, the flame was suppressed bit by bit.Seeing that victory was in sight, Xiang Yu seized the opportunity and immediately sent out a group of people to prepare to climb the mountain to rescue people.At this moment, the wind direction suddenly changed. There was no open flame, but a strong hot air and hot wind swept from behind.The security guard immediately issued a warning, but it was too late, the dead branches that had just been extinguished were rekindled, and the flying fire swooped in the opposite direction, igniting other bushes that had been exposed to heat and radiation for a long time, and the fire reversed instantly and became violent .Xiang Yu immediately shouted: "All retreat! Go back to the safe zone! Retreat!"

"Light it up! Light it up!"

...

"Old Xiang! Xiang Yu?!"

"Old Xiang, come back from the burning clearing, do you hear me? Brother Xiang?"

Yao Hongwei's face was gloomy, his brows were furrowed, and two broad and clear nasolabial folds curved into the corners of his mouth, looking majestic and stern.He took Tu Ke's walkie-talkie and pressed the call button heavily: "Xiang Yu, this is Yao Hongwei, please ensure your own safety, we have contacted the meteorological department to cooperate with artificial rainfall, hold on! Xiang Yu, please answer if you hear it !"

In the temporary command office, outside the guardrail on the side of the road, all the people, those who rested and drank water, those who carried fire extinguishers and explosion-proof lamps, those who were sitting, standing, and running, all stopped at the same time.The lights of the car kept changing on everyone who was still, and several eyes gathered at one place, staring at the walkie-talkie tightly held by Yao Hongwei, anxious, nervous, fearful, and looking forward to it.

But the only sound left on the walkie-talkie was the whistling current.

At the moment when Yao Hongwei was contemplating, Xi Yang had already recited the empty call without hesitation.Wu Wei, Ye Zheng, the entire intervention team, including other squadrons that had previously withdrawn, all subconsciously prepared to fight again.But Tu Ke grabbed Xi Yang's arm, his voice hoarse and low: "I don't want to expose your leg injury in public, don't force me."

"Trust Lao Xiang and wait for orders."

"You heard me." Xi Yang slowly raised his chin, his red eyes were moist. "The old one is back on fire, I have to go."