People's Daily:

Fire safety involves thousands of families and concerns everyone in all industries. What specific achievements have been made in fire control work to serve economic and social development and safeguard people's lives and property? Thank you.

Qiong Se:

Thank you for your question. Fire safety is an important part of social governance and emergency management. In the past decade, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all localities and departments have conscientiously implemented the concept of safe development. They have insisted on putting the people and their lives first, actively promoted the modernization of the management system and capacity in fire safety, and played an essential role in preventing fires and reducing fire hazards, protecting citizens' lives and property, and maintaining public security. The main achievements are as follows:

First, the fire safety responsibility system has been continuously improved. Party committees and governments at all levels have followed the requirement that "both Party officials and government officials take responsibility, and each and every official is responsible for fire safety" as well as the requirement that "whoever is responsible for the management of industries, business, and production and operation must also assume responsibility for workplace safety," and acted quickly to research and resolve major issues concerning fire safety. Annual government fire safety work assessments have been launched. Meanwhile, with industry associations promoting standardized management and enterprises and public institutions establishing and improving their own independent management mechanisms, we have formed a new pattern of fire safety work on a society-wide basis.

Second, significant progress has been made in building a legal system for fire safety. We have implemented the strategic plan of comprehensively advancing the rule of law. The central government released the opinions on reform of fire control law enforcement. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has twice amended the fire safety law and conducted inspections on law enforcement. It has also promulgated 71 local laws, 152 government regulations and 10 sectoral regulations, and 524 national industry standards, providing legal support for fire safety work.

Third, remarkable results have been achieved in preventing and tackling fire risks. We focused on high-risk areas such as high-rise buildings, large commercial complexes, and petrochemical enterprises. We paid close attention to new types of businesses such as electrochemical energy storage, electric bicycles and after-school training, and conducted precise assessments, law enforcement and governance. National authorities have overseen more than 200 major and regional fire risks, and localities have supervised the rectification of over 85.22 million fire risks.

Fourth, firefighting and rescue capabilities have been greatly improved. The number of fire and rescue stations across the country increased from 5,256 to 7,969. The number of fire engines increased from 47,000 to 111,000, and the number of municipal fire extinguishers rose from 1.058 million to 2.018 million. Forest and aviation firefighting forces has covered 21 provinces. In particular, after establishing a national comprehensive fire and rescue team, the fire service has undertaken the responsibilities of firefighting and comprehensive rescue following the law, effectively responding to a series of major disasters and accidents.

Fifth, a society-wide fire safety foundation has been effectively consolidated. All cities, counties, and key towns across the country have formulated and implemented fire safety plans. Primary-level fire safety has been integrated into grid management. Social services concerning fire safety have flourished, and there has been extensive fire safety publicity. The public's awareness of fire safety has been significantly enhanced. There are now over 100,000 registered firefighting engineers and 1.4 million people with special firefighting skills. Moreover, 14,000 new fire stations have been set up in towns and subdistricts across the country.

With China's economic size having more than doubled and urban built-up areas having expanded by 30% during the past 10 years, we have maintained the general stability and improved the performance of firefighting, especially in the prevention and control of fires that cause casualties. According to statistical analysis, the number of fires with three to nine fatalities dropped from an average of 87.7 cases annually in the last decade to 71.1 cases in this decade, a decrease of 18.9%. The number of fires with more than nine fatalities decreased from 4.9 per year in the last decade to three, a drop of 38.8%.

All these achievements are attributed to the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as well as the joint efforts of the whole society. We will stay committed to coordinating development and security, taking prevention as a priority and combining prevention with fire rescue. We will continuously strengthen and improve fire prevention work, sparing no effort to protect people's lives and property so as to provide strong safeguards in terms of firefighting for achieving high-quality development. Thank you.