Chapter 1497: Chapter 273: Returning Home in Glory
After becoming a deputy bureau chief, attending meetings became one of the main parts of the job.
At nine o’clock in the morning, Han Yu arrived on time at the main conference hall of the Linghai Development Zone Management Committee to attend the joint Linghai section of the Yangtze River waters and Yangtze River coastline fire safety warning education conference organized by the Binjiang Maritime Bureau Linghai Maritime Bureau, the Changhang Bureau Linghai Police Station, the Fire Brigade of the Linghai Police Bureau, and the Linghai Police Bureau Development Zone Branch.
Units along the Yanjiang such as Linghai Port, Cosco Kawasaki, Shenglong Shipbuilding, Linghai Shipbuilding Factory, Hailuo Cement, Lingda Car Ferry, Jianghai River Lock, Hubin River Lock, Bailong River Lock, as well as responsible persons from enterprises involved in Changhang transportation such as Linghai Shipping Company, all had to attend.
To demonstrate how much the Linghai City Police Bureau attached importance to fire safety along the Yangtze River coastline, and also to repair relations with Han Yu, Linghai City Vice Mayor and Police Bureau chief Zhang Yidong also attended the meeting.
When he was working in the Linghai Development Zone as a Management Committee member and Political and Legal Committee Secretary, concurrently serving as Military Minister, Han Yu had held meetings in this very main conference hall more than once, and at that time he was a Development Zone leader, sitting on the rostrum just like today.
But back then he was only a "supporting role," and could only sit on the side.
Two years later, returning to a place where he had once worked and becoming the "leading role," sitting in the center of the rostrum, while his former direct superior, Zhang Yidong, was actually sitting to his left as a companion, Han Yu felt everything was so unreal, he truly had the sense of returning home in glory.
For the first item on the agenda, the newly appointed Changhang Fire Department Branch Captain, Fang Guoya, who had only just taken up his post, briefed them on typical fire accident cases that had occurred inside and outside the province this year.
On January 11, a fire broke out at Lu Yang Palace of the City God Temple in Hefei City, the capital of Hui’an Province; the surrounding structures were reduced to ashes, with a total area of 10,523 square meters destroyed. There were 270 affected business households, with 613 stalls; 464 business households and buildings suffered damage totaling 17.52 million yuan.
On the morning of January 27, a sudden fire erupted at Kai Ge Music Square at the intersection of Hudong Road and Sixty-first Road in Fuzhou City, Jianfu Province. Thick smoke billowed over the square accompanied by minor explosions. The Firefighting team deployed 37 fire engines and, after nearly three hours of hard fighting, finally extinguished the blaze. It caused economic losses of more than 10 million yuan; fortunately, there were no casualties.
At 3 a.m. on March 29, a fire broke out at the "Heaven" video hall in Zuo Jiao City, Nanhe Province, causing 74 casualties! Among the nine direct responsible persons including the owner of "Heaven" video hall, Han Benyu, and eight responsible persons from relevant departments in Zuo Jiao City, all but one were sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment; only one was exempted from criminal punishment!
On April 22, a particularly serious fire occurred at the Qingzhou Branch of Qingdao Fengxu Industrial Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of the China Grain and Oil Food Import and Export Corporation. The fire destroyed the entire workshop’s meat processing equipment, resulting in 38 deaths and 20 injuries!
In the early hours of May 6, a fire broke out on the "Pinghu 2000" Yangtze River cruise ship belonging to the Gezhou Dam Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Group Company. All internal facilities from the fourth to the fifth decks were completely burned, the ship’s framework was deformed, causing economic losses of 910,000 yuan, and three people lost their lives in the fire.
...
Major fires occurred almost every month, with huge economic losses, and some of them even caused such heavy casualties.
As Fang Guoya reported, he simultaneously played slides; the scenes of the fire sites were too tragic to look at, and everyone watching was inwardly alarmed, unable to believe that fire could be so close to them.
After Fang Guoya finished analyzing, case by case, the causes of the fires, the new Linghai Police Station Chief of the Changhang Bureau, Wang Baode, who was presiding over this fire safety warning education conference, invited Han Yu to make an important speech.
"Comrades, we have all just heard, and we have all just seen. Water and fire are merciless—this is not just a propaganda slogan. These words are not an exaggeration at all. From the report we just heard, it is clear that fire is powerful; it is omnipotent, it spares nothing, anything can be reduced to ashes in a fire."
Han Yu took a deep breath, swept his gaze over the audience, and said very earnestly and solemnly: "One big fire can bring down a high-rise building; one big fire can turn a ship into scrap metal; one big fire can shatter a family; one big fire can cost many people their lives!
Let me say something very realistic and utilitarian as well: one big fire can cause those present who are in charge of, or specifically responsible for, fire safety to lose their jobs and even be held criminally liable. Of course, that includes me, because like you, I am also in charge of firefighting.
Fire is fiercer than a tiger; prevention must be before the fact. Whether in terms of public duty or private interest, we must keep this string of fire safety taut; we absolutely cannot treat it as important in words but unimportant in action!
To further improve the level of fire safety management at key units on the Linghai section of the Yangtze River waters and the Yangtze River coastline, and resolutely prevent and curb all kinds of fire accidents, we must organically integrate the special campaign of investigating and rectifying major fire safety risks and hazards with our daily work..."
Zhang Yidong took notes as he listened, nodding from time to time.
Today was the first time since being transferred to the position of deputy bureau chief of the Changhang Bureau that Han Yu had come to Linghai to attend such a meeting, and Shi Shengyong had accompanied his direct superior, Zhang Yidong, to "show support."
Sitting in the first row below the stage, he felt that Han Yu was no longer the former Salted Fish; sitting in the center of the rostrum, speaking eloquently and radiating natural authority without anger, he truly had a bit of an official’s presence.
Most of the unit heads attending the meeting already knew Han Yu, and quite a few had good relations with him. They were fully aware that Han Yu was not resorting to alarmism; they listened very attentively, and no one dared to doze off.
"It was not easy for each of you to get to where you are today, and it has been even less easy for Linghai to develop to where it is today. After toiling for decades, we absolutely must not allow a single fire to take us back several decades! Therefore, after you return, you must not only convene fire safety warning conferences as well, but must also implement all fire safety measures in earnest."
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