Palace Museum firefighters safeguard country's past

Tests are held every week. Firefighters have to run more than 50 meters within 13 seconds carrying three rolls of 20-meter-long standpipe hoses and connecting them.

Strict practice is essential to remaining vigilant.

Firefighters stationed in residential areas may be called out to fires every day. However, since the Tian'anmen Fire Squadron was set up in 1970, there have been no major fires within its 3.74-sq-km jurisdiction, which covers not only the Palace Museum but all of Tian'anmen Square.

In 1987, the Palace of Great Brilliance (Jingyanggong) at the museum was hit by lightning and caught fire. The blaze was quickly put out before any damage was caused to cultural relics, although a small part of the roof was charred.
After this, lightning conductors were installed on the roofs of all the buildings at the complex.

Du said: "Any fire at the Forbidden City, which is in the heart of Beijing, would have wider implications for the public than merely being just a cultural disaster. We have to take precautions against any latent danger."

Li Yang, 31, who has been with the squadron for 11 years, is in charge of the daily checks and rehearsals for emergencies.

He has walked through all the alleys in the Forbidden City to work out the best escape routes in the event of an emergency.

"Roads at this museum have various slopes, widths and are in different states of repair," Li said. "We are equipped with different vehicles to reach anywhere in the Forbidden City."

Li took an additional course compared with firefighters elsewhere to learn about cultural heritage and ancient architecture.

There are 8,728 "rooms"－any square space with four columns in it counts as one room in Chinese tradition－at the museum. Li had to learn about all of them.

"Different materials are used for the different palaces, which have their own construction techniques," he said. "And each hall houses different types of cultural relics."

He said water may not necessarily be best in fighting some blazes. For example, if some varieties of timber catch fire, foam will be used.