Sun Shanying does maintenance on his fire truck in Meihekou city, Jilin province, April 30, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

A 51-year-old farmer in Northeast China has helped extinguish more than 500 fires for free over the past 12 years, costing him nearly 600,000 yuan ($86,930) in total, sina.com reported.

Sun Shanying, from Kangdaying township, Meihekou city, Jilin province, bought a retired fire truck for 68,000 yuan in July 2005. The idea came following a costly fire at his younger brother's home.

Although the fire was put out in two hours with help of fellow villagers, his brother still suffered a major loss. Sun decided to buy a fire truck.

Sun changed the last numbers of his telephone to 119 to help villagers find him in an emergency. He also dug a well in his yard to fill the fire truck with water. He even closed his two factories to dedicate time for his new job - putting out fires for villagers.

The news of his fire truck spread quickly in the area and many villagers asked him for help.