case analysis

[Legal Report] Topic of this issue: The long-lost fire brigade (August 30, 2005)

Yu lives in Fan Jiatun Town, Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province. On the afternoon of August 5, 2005, at about 14∶00, her house suddenly caught fire, and the villagers were busy looking for the couple who were out. The fire started in Westinghouse. Ten minutes later, when Jin Zhi and his wife came back, the west room was already full of smoke. 14: 20, which is the tenth minute after the alarm, the fire brigade did not appear.

According to the villagers, the fire brigade is three kilometers away from the village, and it takes five or six minutes to walk there. However, the villagers waited for more than 20 minutes after making this call, but the fire brigade just didn't show up. By this time, the flames had jumped out from the roof. 14∶30, the fire burned for nearly 30 minutes, but the fire truck still didn't come. At this point, the fire has burned to the roof of the entire western district. Neighbor Liu Changjiang was in a hurry, so he got on his motorcycle and went straight to the fire brigade.

When he arrived at the fire brigade, Liu Changjiang told the firemen about the critical situation at the scene of the fire. Firefighters immediately began to prepare tools and asked Liu Changjiang to go back and wait. Liu Changjiang said, look at this posture this time the fire brigade will definitely come, so I hurried back first, but I never expected that the fire brigade still didn't come. 15: 00, the fire burned for a whole hour, but the town fire brigade still didn't come.

At this time, the fire is getting bigger and bigger, and it has begun to spread to the other two rooms on the east side. People have to turn to Gongzhuling City Fire Brigade for help dozens of kilometers away. 17∶00, the fire has been put out naturally. Due to traffic jam, Gongzhuling Fire Brigade arrived at 7: 00 pm/kloc-0. At this point, the fire has been naturally extinguished for nearly an hour. The fire completely destroyed the three tile houses of the Golden House, leaving only the empty outer walls. Yu and her husband have lost all their savings in recent years, and the loss has reached about 40 thousand yuan.

Fire fighting is the bounden responsibility of the fire brigade, but why didn't the fire brigade in Fan Jiatun Town put out the fire after receiving the alarm? According to the villagers, the fire brigade in the town didn't come to put out the fire because they didn't pay the fire brigade. Must they raise money for fire fighting? This thing sounds ridiculous. Why didn't the town fire brigade put out the fire? Our reporter came to the fire brigade, hoping to find the answer to the question.

Sun Guoan is an investor in the town fire brigade. He said that they are private fire brigades, which were established in 1999 10. In that year, he invested more than 400,000 yuan, bought three fire engines and hired 16 firefighters to build the first private fire brigade in Jilin Province. The reason for not calling the police this time is that the village where Jinzhi's family is located has not paid the fire prevention fee this year. Moreover, Sun Guoan said that at that time, the villagers said to put out the fire first, and then how much would it cost. However, Sun Guoan believes that this has happened before, but they have finished calling the police and no one has given them money. In addition, Sun Guoan said that sometimes when he saw that people on fire had been burned to the ground, he could not bear to charge them a few hundred yuan for fire fighting, and this extra cost would be borne by himself. Now the fire brigade has no strength.

Since the operation of private fire brigade is so depressed, why did you set up a private fire brigade in Fan Jiatun Town? Can't the government fire brigade come here to put out the fire? In this regard, Captain Huang Lihui of Gongzhuling City Public Security Fire Brigade said,

Their fire brigade consists of three squadrons, and there are twelve cars at present. Due to the large area of Gongzhuling area, the fire brigade could not put out the fires in some distant towns in time.

According to the regulations, there is no voluntary fire brigade in the areas below the county level in China, and the fire is mainly undertaken by the county-level fire department. Gongzhuling City has a jurisdiction area of about 4,000 square kilometers, and the farthest township is 100 kilometers away from the urban area. Even if you go to the police immediately after receiving the police, it will take about an hour and a half on the road. At this time, even if it arrives, there are basically few houses left in the countryside.

However, in towns close to each other, sometimes the rescue may not be timely due to the allocation of fire police force and other reasons. In this case, Gongzhuling approved the establishment of a private fire brigade in Fan Jiatun Town on 1999+00. So, did Sun Guoan's private fire brigade play a role in firefighting and peacekeeping? To this end, the reporter conducted a random survey in several natural villages under the jurisdiction of Fan Jiatun Town, and all he heard were positive and praised voices.

"put out the fire quickly and eliminate the disaster instantly" and "the true spirit of helping others day and night" In recent years, the private fire brigade in Fan Jiatun Town has received dozens of similar banners, and the achievements of this private fire brigade have also been recognized by Gongzhuling City Fire Brigade. Since Fan Jiatun, a private fire brigade, is so popular, why is it depressed? Investor Sun Guoan calculated an account for us. 16 employees have a monthly salary of 75,000 yuan in 400 yuan, with an initial investment of 400,000 yuan, an annual depreciation expense of 25,000 yuan, plus 20,000 yuan for oil, 1 10,000 yuan for equipment consumption and car repair, and 654,380+0,000 yuan for water and electricity. The accumulated annual expenditure is nearly 654.38 million yuan.

Of the 20 villages in Fan Jiatun, only 13 paid the fire prevention fee, and * * * collected about 50,000 yuan, which was far from enough for the fire brigade to spend one year. Due to the shortage of funds, the number of firefighters in Fan Jiatun private fire brigade has been reduced from 16 to 6, and the number of fire engines has also been reduced from 3 to 2. Therefore, the Fan Jiatun Fire Brigade can only ensure that the villages that have paid the fees will go to the police in time in case of fire, but it can't control those villages that don't pay the fire prevention fees. However, Yu's family did not understand this. They think that the first task of the fire brigade is to put out the fire, and they can't fail to perform their duties just because they don't pay the money.

Regarding the non-governmental fire brigade's failure to put out fires, the view of relevant departments is that this fire brigade is a non-governmental organization after all and is not restricted by the government, and the government cannot force them to put out fires.

Due to the lack of funds, the private fire brigade in Fan Jiatun has been struggling for survival for many years. The annual per capita income of Fan Jiatun Town is 4,780 yuan, and the annual fire-fighting fee of 2 yuan per person should be nothing to them. Why don't villagers pay this money? Many villagers said that they thought there would be no fire at home, and it was useless to pay the fire prevention fee. The leader of the villagers' group also expressed helplessness about the argument that the villagers did not pay the fire protection fee.

It seems that the villagers don't pay the fire fee not because they are short of money, but because they feel that their homes can't catch fire, so they don't want to pay it. Can the vast rural areas really leave the fire brigade? According to the leader of the villagers' group, before the establishment of this folk fire brigade, once a fire broke out, villagers were generally organized to save themselves, using buckets to draw water and pots to draw water. This method can put out the fire at the first sign, but it is difficult if the fire is too big.

It can be said that the emergence of private fire brigade made up the blank spot of rural fire protection, and after the fire, many villagers in Fan Jiatun Town said that this lesson should be learned. According to reports, China also encourages individual capital to enter the field of private fire fighting, which also provides policy guarantee for the establishment of private fire brigades. But how to ensure its operation and get rid of the current survival dilemma? This is an urgent problem to be solved.

Moderator: The guest in our studio today is Professor Xue Gangling from China University of Political Science and Law. At first, the film made people angry. A fire brigade can't put out the fire, but looking back, I find that the fire brigade has its own difficulties, and it is a private fire brigade. This is the first time I've heard of a private fire brigade. Is it legal?

Xue Gangling: Actually, this is a rural self-help organization, and it is its bounden duty to put out the fire. There should be fire fighting organizations at the village level and the town level, but the country may have a gap in fire fighting at this level because of funds or other reasons. It's just that the relationship between the private fire brigade and the government and the people is not very clear now. It should be a contractual relationship. If you want to provide expenses, I will provide services for you. If you don't want to join, I won't provide services for you. This relationship becomes a kind of communication in civil affairs.

Moderator: It is not a purely civil act, it is not a commercial act. If fire fighting is linked to profits, there will be a bad feeling that someone is rich.

Xue Gangling: I think some areas are not for profit, such as national defense, diplomacy and public safety. Fire fighting is a part of public security, and it can't be profitable.

Moderator: Do you think it is possible to hold the fire brigade responsible for failing to put out the fire?

Xue Gangling: If it's purely commercial, I don't need to save it if you don't pay, but in this case, it's not absolutely impossible for him to save it. It seems a little harsh that you don't pay the fire brigade to be on the scene at any time.

Moderator: Let's design with the ideal state now. Assuming that this private fire brigade exists, what should be the reasonable relationship?

Xue Gangling: The government is obliged to provide fire protection. There is a trust relationship between private fire brigade and government. The government entrusts the fire control affairs to the private fire brigade. From the perspective of capital, some funds may be directly entrusted by the government. If the funds are insufficient, a small part can be raised by the private sector to ensure the normal operation of private fire control institutions. But this fire department can't make a profit. China's "Fire Protection Law" does not cover rural areas in this respect, and the government is required to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Moderator: Today we are discussing the rationality, legitimacy and future prospects of new things. However, what we need to emphasize is that what the government should do must be done, and the places that the government power should cover must be covered, and its obligations cannot be casually pushed to others. If introduced, problems may arise. Therefore, the relevant government departments should raise funds to make fire fighting truly a public utility. At the same time, ordinary people should also strengthen their own fire protection concept and take two steps at the same time, so that this road can go longer.

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