Heroes in harm's way: forest firefighters carry out rescue tasks in NE China's Heilongjiang

(Photo/Courtesy of the No.1 detachment of the Heilongjiang Forest Fire Brigade)

Building 12 Huoyan (Fire Eye) Laboratories in nine hours to support nucleic acid testing during the COVID-19 epidemic; filling over 20,000 sandbags in 72 hours for flooding… These are firefighters from the No.1 detachment of the Heilongjiang Forest Fire Brigade, stationed in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Formed in 2003, the detachment is mainly responsible for forest fire fighting, flood rescue and earthquake rescue. For nearly two decades, the firefighters have carried out more than 60 emergency rescue tasks, becoming heroes in harm's way.

"The fire brigade is the closest to the people. We will always be there when people need us," said Ren Mingshuang, an officer with the detachment.