Volunteers power fight against forest fires

All the forest fires in Chongqing municipality had been extinguished by Saturday, nine days after the fires first broke out in Fuling district there before spreading to other districts.

It took the joint effort of firefighters on the front line and volunteers to make the mission a success. During the nine days, volunteers on foot carried chilled water in bottles for the firefighters on the front lines, some volunteers driving taxis ferried volunteers to the bases for free while many volunteers ferried firefighters on their two-wheelers to areas where automobiles could not reach.

The success in extinguishing the fires in Chongqing illustrates the power of volunteers. It is not very difficult to arrange volunteers thanks to smartphones and other new technologies. Most volunteers in Chongqing rushed to the site on hearing about the need for help on WeChat groups.