Firefighter sacrifices life, 14 years after being rescued in earthquake

Two firefighters, who died when fighting a mountain fire in Xintian county, Henan province were recently posthumously honored as martyrs.

One of the firefighters, Cai Maoqiang, was from Sichuan Province Forest Fire Brigade. He got seriously burned when providing cover for comrades-in-arms to evacuate from a fire on Oct 21, and died later despite rescue efforts.

Cai was born in 1999 in Wenchuan, Sichuan province. After a devastating magnitude-8 earthquake jolted Wenchuan in 2008, Cai and his family got trapped underneath rubble after their house collapsed, they were rescued from the rubble by armed policy force soldiers.

In 2019, Cai was enrolled as a member of the national fire and rescue service. Since then, he had participated in 14 firefighting missions and six other rescue missions.

Before sacrificing his life in the latest firefighting mission, Cai and his fiancée planned on getting married this year. To honor Cai's heroism, he was also posthumously recognized as a member of the Communist Party of China.

Another firefighter who was granted the title of martyr is 47-year-old Xiao Jianqiang from Huaihua, Hunan province. He is survived by a daughter and a wife.

On Oct 25, many locals lined up the streets of Xintian to see of the two heroes as the hearse carrying their coffins passed by.

After the fire broke out in Xintian on Oct 17, more than 4,000 people, including more than 800 firefighters from the neighboring Sichuan province, joined in the battle against the blaze.