Fire Stations and the Chinese International Search and Rescue team (CISAR)

Carolina Ceballos

Travels in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai

The preparation process for this three-week trip could not prepare me for the adventure that would follow. I had originally planned on researching Chinese legends from a book that I read often as a child and look into fire stations on the side. Later I was told that I could only do one topic so I realized that the fire stations would be much more interesting and definitely a project that had never been done before. Furthermore, it coincided with my interest in search and rescue (SAR) and emergency preparedness. Moreover, my recent involvement with the San Bernardino Mountain Search and Rescue team had expanded my interest in the project and I decided to try and meet the Chinese International Search and Rescue Team. Prior to my departure, there was a change in plans, and I was pleased to have my daughter accompanying me on this trip. The goal of this program is to allow people to experience China and make a connection with its’ people. I think that this project not only allowed me to experience China but also allowed me to meet individuals in different fields and with varying interests in several cities in China.

I began my trip in Beijing at 5:20am when our flight landed 30 minutes early--how wonderful. I never thought I would be one of those people who arrive at the airport and there is someone waiting with your name on a sign and a car parked outside. Once outside it was an overcast day, which we would later come to find out is a mixture of smog, adding to China being one of the most polluted countries in the world. Moreover, this is a country proud to be recognized for having the largest population in the world, which they state quite often on their television programs. This would also come to be a fact that would become a part of everyday, fighting the crowds and being able to walk among those native to the city. I also came to realize that the lack of tourism was not actually present because there was a lack of foreign faces, but tourism was rampant among the Asian culture, with the tourists being from China and other parts of Asia more than any other place in the world.

The driver took us to the hotel and we began the trip with our first encounter of the language barrier. There were some difficulties in trying to check-in because they required a deposit but were not fully able to explain this. Luckily, the driver’s limited English was enough to get us through this first challenge. The next challenge came when it was time to eat. There were several restaurants across the street and we decided to head for the one that had pictures on the menu. It ended up being a fun process of point, smile, and nod your head to indicate yes. By the way, if you don’t know how to eat with chopsticks, you better take your fork! My daughter and I realized this was going to be an interesting trip, but were glad that we would be meeting with the translator the following day. This would allow us to communicate easier and to get a better grasp on the culture.

The first aspect of the trip called for a presentation that I was to give at Ancom Systems, Inc., a provider of rescue equipment to Fire Departments/Stations in several cities in Eastern China. We were picked up at the hotel the following morning by Mr. Alan Su (translator) and were pleased with his English speaking skills. Once we arrived at the company, we were offered Coca Cola and a seat in an air-conditioned room. Considering the heat outside, this was a welcome environment. The presentation began with the video of Emergency Preparedness at Scripps and was followed by a Power Point presentation further explaining the process at the college. The point of the presentation was to allow the company to see how they could expand their target buyers and to better understand the needs of an institution/company that utilizes rescue equipment. The translation process at this point was interesting, to say the least. I began to realize that for every few sentences I said, the translation took a lot longer to conduct. It was quite amusing to hear the Chinese tone/language, then receive the English translation, give the response, and finally hear your response given back in the original language. After the presentation was over, we presented the company with small tokens of appreciation, Scripps paraphernalia of course. We were then invited to have our first big Chinese dinner of Beijing Roast Duck. How delicious it was, and how different at the same time to eat so many parts of an animal. In Mexico, where I am from, we say we do not waste any parts of the animal but I think the Chinese take the torch in this respect. We tasted parts of the entire duck in all different forms: duck stock, duck soup, duck web, duck bladder, etc. All in the typical glutinous substance, that adorns most Chinese dishes, along with spiciness.

The following day we were once again picked up by Alan and the General Manager of Ancom, Mr. Chen who had arranged our meeting with the fire stations in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. We arrived and were introduced to the “leader” of the station, which is the same as the Captain in our U.S. fire stations. There was also the head of training, the head of equipment, and the head of rescue. We sat around and had a Q & A session before getting a tour of the station. This would be the procedure for all the stations we visited. The most interesting fact is that the fire stations in China are all militarized; therefore, the workings of it are all military oriented. There are no volunteers, no women, and they rarely do mock fire drills or mock emergencies, which are common in the states. One clarification that should be made when making this comparison is the difference in size and population of most U.S. cities, which are smaller, and those visited in this project.

Visiting the fire stations and being able to make these comparisons was eye opening for both parties. The most exciting part was being able to watch some of their training in Shanghai using the 6-story tower, hoses, the smoke room and the ropes. When touring around the station they were proud to show how clean and organized everything was. In addition, I thought it interesting that basically all of their trucks were foreign made: Japan, France, and Germany. I look forward to visiting my local fire stations and sharing this newfound knowledge. I am sure the fire fighters here will appreciate their 10 days a month a lot more after they hear the Chinese method of 365 days a year.
I also met with Sandra Sachs from the Beijing Foreign Studies University to talk about their procedures in case of emergencies and it was interesting to find out that nothing exists in this regard. She discussed her efforts in approaching the “main office” of the university requesting information be created and provided to students on emergency preparedness. The returned sentiment was that this type of information was not necessary. Therefore, Ms. Sachs created her own flyer and gives it to the students during orientation, outlining contact information for her or her assistant, campus safety, and local hospitals. The process begins once Sandra or her assistant receive the emergency call. They meet with the student, take a taxi and take him/her to the hospital. If it is really urgent than another student can take the ill person to the hospital. The reasoning for this is that because of the enormous amount of traffic in Beijing, it is faster to take a taxi and go then to call an ambulance and wait. In comparison to the overall involvement of Scripps College and many American institutions both academic and business, the lack of emergency preparedness concern was a bit shocking.

The final scheduled visit involved a presentation at the Chinese Earthquake Administration [CEA], specifically for the Chinese International Search and Rescue Team [CISAR]. This was almost identical to the one with Ancom, except these individuals had a perfect grasp of emergency procedures, preparedness, prediction, prevention and SAR (the final three being the focus of CEA). They were very interested listening to the differences between Scripps’ SAR team, the San Bernardino Mountain SAR team and our Urban Search and Rescue teams from the Fire Department. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the 5-day training that would commence later that afternoon with all those involved in CISAR because it was going to be at a military base and there was just not enough time to obtain clearance from the proper government branch to allow us to be present. This was the first time that the teams from all Provinces would train together in their three years of existence. They were very apologetic for not being able to take us with them.

Of course this trip was not all work, there is always time for play and my daughter and I made sure to visit several of the tourists spots and places of Chinese heritage: Beijing - Great Wall, Palace Museum, Tiananmen Square, Wanfujing Street; Shanghai - Nanjing road, Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Building, The Bund, McDonald’s and KFC. It was amazing how many McDonald’s and KFC’s there are in China. The most shocking part of it all was the Starbucks inside the Palace Museum, it almost took away from the grandeur of the place to have such modernity within.

This was an experience I do not believe I could have had if not for the support of the Avery Program and their belief in my project.