1993, Pengcheng Police Affairs

Chapter 27 Extinguishing the Fire

The entire village of Yinhu was in complete chaos.

Because the entire village is under construction, the roadside is piled with construction waste, making the already narrow road even narrower.

"Fire! Fire!"

"Quickly move those things away from the roadside, or the fire trucks won't be able to get in!"

"Make way, make way! Stop watching and get to help!"

Yongxing Village is right next to Yinhu Village, and Gu Huai arrived at the scene in no time.

Looking at the rising flames, Gu Huai felt a chill run down his spine.

Since it was only temporary accommodation, everyone used inexpensive materials when setting it up.

While it wasn't made of wood, the building materials were essentially fire-resistant.

If one house catches fire, it can immediately spread to other houses and cause them to catch fire as well.

Looking at the towering flames, Gu Huai knew he had to do something.

Otherwise, the entire Silver Lake Village could very well have been burned to the ground overnight.

Fortunately, Gu Huai's previous job in the clothing industry meant that large quantities of raw materials were often stored in warehouses, so fire prevention was of paramount importance. In the early years, he would go to special training sessions every quarter.

After quickly reviewing the fire prevention knowledge in his mind, Gu Huai stepped into the crowd.

"Excuse me, excuse me, I'm a police officer from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Where is your village chief?"

"Officer Gu? Officer Gu! I'm here?" A hand reached out from the crowd.

Since they had just met that morning, the village chief was somewhat familiar with Gu Huai's voice.

Gu Huai struggled to squeeze his way over, and once he finally got close to the village chief, he asked without waiting for a reply, "Can you organize people now?"

"It's possible, but..."

"No buts." Gu Huai interrupted the village chief. "Call over a few influential people in the village, and I'll make the arrangements."

The village chief wanted to say something, but he was intimidated by Gu Huai's imposing presence.

He glanced at the rising flames, and without further hesitation, immediately turned and shouted, "Qiang, Huan, Li, come here."

After the three people the village chief had called over gathered around, Gu Huai pulled one of them aside and instructed him, "Time is of the essence now, there's no time for introductions. Just listen to me. Quickly find someone to dismantle all the flammable materials downwind and move all exposed combustibles. Be fast! And be careful!"

Because the incident happened so suddenly, the man clearly didn't understand the situation. After Gu Huai finished speaking, he didn't act immediately but turned to look at the village chief.

The village chief heard what Gu Huai just said.

Although he didn't understand the specific reasons for doing this, judging from his experience, he believed that doing so should be effective.

So he immediately shouted, "What are you standing there for? Do as Officer Gu says!"

"Eh."

After responding, the one called A-Qiang immediately turned around and squeezed his way out, shouting as he did so, "Everyone, come with me."

As he shouted, many young and strong men followed him and ran downwind.

Seeing that A-Qiang was indeed able to organize the manpower, Gu Huai continued with peace of mind: "Find another group of people to organize a human relay of water. Bring anyone who can collect water and pass it from hand to hand to the riverbank."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

"Wait a minute, I haven't finished yet." Gu Huai grabbed the man. "Tell them not to pour the water directly into the fire, but to focus on pouring it on the houses outside."

"Huh? Then we'll just ignore the fire..."

In fact, this is also a common misconception among the public about firefighting.

People naturally assume that extinguishing a fire involves pouring water on the fire. However, in reality, the purpose of firefighting water is only to prevent the area near the fire from being ignited. The real reason a fire is extinguished is when all the combustibles at the fire point have been burned out.

Once the interior of the fire is completely burned out, the fire will naturally go out.

"I don't have time to explain. Just do as I say." With the fire raging, Gu Huai had no choice but to be firm, his words carrying an undeniable air of authority.

Seeing that the village chief had no objections, the man could only hesitantly nod, "Alright..."

After that person left, Gu Huai pulled over the last person and said, "Call a few people who know how to operate excavators, bring over those small excavators from the construction site, and demolish the houses within a ten-meter radius of the fire."

"Huh...? You want me to demolish someone's house?"

"That's right!" Gu Huai added, "Only by creating firebreaks around the fire can the fire be brought under control."

"But...you can't make me demolish someone's house."

Gu Huai said anxiously, "No buts, the fire is urgent right now. I'll take you to explain to people afterward."

The previous two measures could only barely suppress the fire; to truly prevent its spread, firebreaks had to be created.

The sooner the firebreak is created, the sooner the fire can be brought under control.

"Officer, you should let someone else do it. I wouldn't dare demolish someone's house without a reason. If the fire doesn't reach their house, I'll be the subject of gossip."

No matter how Gu Huai tried to persuade him, the man remained unmoved, refusing to be the bad guy who demolished someone else's house.

"You!" The man's attitude left Gu Huai speechless with anger for a long time.

Gu Huai turned to look at the village chief, wanting him to speak, but when he turned around, he saw the village chief with his head down, deep in thought.

Even the village chief wouldn't dare to give a direct order to demolish a house.

Just as things reached a stalemate and Gu Huai was about to personally operate the excavator, an old voice came from behind him.

"Ali, listen to this officer, quickly find someone to do it!"

Gu Huai turned his head at the sound and saw an old man with a full head of white hair and a face full of wrinkles, but who was straight and vigorous with bright eyes, walking slowly towards them with the help of others.

"Uncle, why did you come here? It's dangerous here..." The village chief quickly stepped forward to help him up.

"Hmph," the old man snorted coldly, glaring at the village chief, "If I hadn't come soon, the ancestral hall would have been burned down."

Upon hearing the words "ancestral hall," the village chief was startled.

In Shenzhen, a city with a strong sense of clan, ancestral halls are the most important place for an entire family.

It not only houses ancestral tablets but also symbolizes the prosperity of a family.

If the ancestral hall is burned down, their village will be the laughingstock of the neighboring village for decades.

Not only that, even though he's already in his forties and is the village chief, he still has to kneel in the ancestral hall whenever his uncle says the word.

Upon realizing the serious consequences of this incident, the village chief immediately jumped up as if he had been electrocuted.

"Didn't you hear what your uncle said? Get moving!"

"oh..."

Seeing that Ali looked somewhat reluctant, the village chief followed him out of concern.

Before long, under the village chief's urging, several small excavators drove over.

At first, the villagers whose houses were demolished had some resistance.

But after the uncle stepped in and guaranteed that the village would pay for the reconstruction and arrange accommodation for everyone in the meantime, the dissenting voices gradually subsided.

Under Gu Huai's leadership, the villagers of Yinhu Village managed to create firebreaks before the fire spread.

With the continuous help of people from surrounding villages who kept watering the area to cool it down, the fire was brought under control well by the time the fire brigade arrived.

Just as the village chief was coordinating with the firefighters, Gu Huai decisively chose to withdraw after successfully completing his mission.

It's not that he has a habit of doing good deeds anonymously, but rather that he has more important things to do now.

After finally squeezing out of the crowd, I reached the village entrance.

Ling Yue, who was anxiously waiting at the village entrance, immediately ran over, taking a handkerchief out of her pocket and handing it to Gu Huai as she spoke, "How are you, Huai? Are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Gu Huai took the handkerchief and wiped his face haphazardly a couple of times. "How's Liu Yanni? Is she alright?"

"How could she be alright? Her husband just died tragically, and then her house burned down. She cried her eyes out when she heard the news and insisted on going to put out the fire." Ling Yue said somewhat dejectedly, "I had to drag her away by force to stop her."

"Her relatives are all at Zhang Shengli's house now, and it was only with great difficulty that they managed to persuade her to stay."

"How's the fire at her house? Did they manage to save it?"

"Sigh..." Gu Huai sighed, "No, it's all burned."

"Sigh..." Ling Yue was well aware that once a fire broke out in the shantytown, it would be difficult enough to control the fire; to think of a perfect firefighting was simply wishful thinking.

"Let's not talk about that now." Gu Huai patted Ling Yue's shoulder. "Sister Ling, you need to contact the bureau immediately and have them send someone over. I suspect this fire wasn't an accident, but arson. We need to get people from the bureau to investigate and find out if there are any witnesses."

"Okay!" Ling Yue nodded immediately without any hesitation. "And you?"

"I need to go see Liu Yanni. I have a feeling she's hiding something from me."