[People’s Daily] Fire Guard Battelle： Galloping like a steed

壹

风很硬，刀片一样刮在脸上，还没等人回过神来，雪就跟着下了起来。

阴郁的天气让警铃声越发显得刺耳。巴特尔跑到车库，习惯性地穿上工作服。刚刚准备好救援装备，他就被大队教导员给拦下了。

组织上决定把巴特尔树为先进典型，这是一件好事情，可巴特尔却很平静。他认为，自己做的都是分内工作，没什么可说的。而且，灭火救援靠的是集体的力量。

今天由于要接受媒体采访，他不能出火警，有些不乐意。教导员给他做思想工作，可巴特尔还是想不通，说作为基层指挥员，还有比出火警更重要的事情吗？教导员无奈地说，你先执行命令。

这次来采访的是一位刚刚工作的记者，或许是经验不足，上来就问巴特尔：“你怕死吗？”

没想到，巴特尔回答说：“消防员又不是超人，上有父母，下有儿女，怎么能不怕死？”

记者想了想，说：“巴特尔，你的名字是英雄的意思……”

巴特尔说：“我也没想着当英雄，我就想着干好自己的工作。”

其实，从小到大，他都叫巴特尔，名字是妈妈给起的。而且，这个名字确有深意，因为他是英雄的后代。

共青团中央、全国青联授予巴特尔同志

第25届“中国青年五四奖章”

巴特尔出生在一个光荣的家庭。他的爸爸也是一名消防员，爸爸牺牲时，巴特尔才八个月大。他对爸爸没有什么印象，有关爸爸的英雄事迹，全是家里人告诉他的。巴特尔的姑姑也是消防战线一员，在通辽消防工作。巴特尔的妈妈曾是一名柔道健将，拿过全国冠军，还代表国家参加过世界锦标赛，捧回了铜牌。那几年，家里日子过得紧巴，巴特尔的奶奶自己炸麻花，拿到集市上去卖。在巴特尔的印象里，奶奶的手上经常被热油烫出水泡。再后来，生活好些了，奶奶就把自己省吃俭用的钱拿出来，资助更困难的家庭。奶奶还被内蒙古自治区表彰为“感动草原——十杰母亲”“十佳英雄母亲”。

The influence of his family made Battelle decide to become a firefighter too. But being a front-line firefighter means bloodshed and sacrifice, and friends dissuaded him when they learned about it. Battelle was determined to carry on his father’s last wish.

However, after he really took up this job, Battelle realized that being a good firefighter was not as simple as he had imagined.

two

Firefighters must have good professional qualities. Battelle has good grades in other subjects, but the horizontal bar curl is a problem for him.

Battelle always felt that he couldn’t embarrass his father, let alone disappoint his family. The family set an example for him: the heroic sacrifice of his father, the hard work of his mother to win glory for the country, the simple and selfless feelings of his grandmother, and the bravery of his aunt who didn’t let her husband take root in his heart like seeds. Battelle thought that what they could do well, they would be able to do it themselves.

His family’s encouragement and words and deeds became the motivation for Battelle to train hard. He was very strict with himself, even to the point of "ruthlessness".

That time, Battle participated in the training competition, and all he could think about was competing for the first place.

The course on the tenth floor required firefighters to wear a full set of combat uniforms, carry an air breathing apparatus, and carry two 65-millimeter water hoses. Fully armed, they had to carry a total of 40 kilograms of weight. Rushing up to the tenth floor, it was all about strength and speed.

The standard of excellence is one minute and thirty seconds, and Battelle is five seconds ahead! It’s just that he was excited, and when he went downstairs, he found that his toes hurt deeply.

Battelle took off his combat boots and found that his socks had been soaked in blood. The hygienist ran over and saw that his toenails were about to fall off, persuading him to quit the game later.

Battelle thought to himself, no, the next is the gun and cannon coordinated fire fighting exercise, which is a group course for eight people to participate in, and the assessment is team cooperation. Everyone has trained very well in the early stage, if he leaves the stage at this time, it will be no different from being a deserter. He gritted his teeth and pulled off his toenails, briefly bandaged them, and limped to the starting line.

Ten minutes later, the starting gun went off, and Battelle rushed out like a steed. He didn’t feel any pain. In the end, he won the championship with his comrades.

three

Battelle will never forget it in his life, and the fire alarm almost punished him.

The fire broke out in a wholesale market. The comrades aimed at the fire floor, but Battelle accidentally heard that there might be an old man upstairs.

His life was at stake, so he didn’t say hello to anyone and broke into the sea of fire alone. The smoke was billowing, and the visibility was almost zero. Battelle searched in the dark and finally found the old man. In a hurry, he took off his mask and buckled it onto the old man’s face.

Although the old man was saved, the organization believed that he should not leave the team and act without authorization, so he wrote a review to reflect deeply.

That night, he called his mother. After listening to his complaint, his mother only said one sentence: not only must you pay attention to your own safety, but also protect your comrades.

Battelle suddenly realized that his mother would say this every time he contacted his family. He thought about it for a long time, and then remembered that when he said goodbye to his family and joined the fire brigade, his always strong mother shed tears. Firefighters are ruthless, and firefighters are an extremely dangerous profession. But the mother still respects the choice of her son, even though she has always worried about him.

Battelle understood that when a firefighter cannot engage in individual heroism, it depends on collective strength. Just imagine, if he can’t even save his life, how can he save more people? Battelle went to the leader to talk about his understanding, the leader laughed, he could recognize the shortcomings, and constantly improve himself, with potential!

Battelle always believed that joining the party was a supreme honor. He actively moved closer to the party organization and submitted an application for joining the party. After some time, the instructor of the brigade talked to him, saying that he still had some shortcomings in his work and hoped that he would continue to work hard and continuously improve himself.

Battelle’s head was stuffy and silent. Since then, he has been competing with himself and has used high-intensity training to sharpen himself every day. After the instructor found out the truth, he couldn’t bear it and told Battelle that the organization had included him in the party member development plan. That conversation was to hope that he would continue to work hard, guard against arrogance and impatience, and not relax.

He thought that Battelle would not compete with him in the future, but he did not expect that he would practice more vigorously. Because in Battelle’s heart, joining the party is an extremely glorious thing, and he must be worthy of this identity and be a qualified party member.

four

When Battelle was working as an instructor in the first squadron of the Toketuo County Fire Brigade in Hohhot City, he once received an alarm that a courtyard building in the urban-rural junction was on fire, next to a row of houses. If it was not extinguished in time, the consequences would be disastrous.

On the way to the scene, Battelle quickly calculated in his heart: It takes 58 minutes for an ordinary vehicle to arrive at the fire scene, but there are three limited elevations on the way, and the height of the fire truck cannot pass, so it can only be detoured. In that case, it will definitely delay time.

Battelle carefully recalled that the U-shaped road was rolled out by large trucks next to the elevated road. As long as the driving skills are good, passing through the U-shaped road can save a lot of time. Long-term firefighting work has given him a good understanding of the road conditions. In order to buy time, he decided to take the U-shaped road.

As a result, Battelle and the others arrived at the scene smoothly, taking only a few minutes longer than ordinary vehicles. As soon as they entered the scene, they immediately set up water cannons and started fighting.

But to Battle’s surprise, a middle-aged man outside the security zone kept abusing them and blaming them for being late. The man was so emotional that he even picked up rocks from the ground and threw them at the firefighters.

The police in charge of the police station were anxious and took the middle-aged man under control. After the fire was over, Battelle ran over to intercede with the man. Some team members did not understand: We worked so hard to put out the fire, and he even threw stones at us. Why are you still speaking for him? Battelle replied: It is because our work is not in place and our actions are not fast enough, so the common people will have misunderstandings.

After that, under the unified deployment of the brigade, the fire brigade went to the community, schools and pastoral areas to preach the policy to the masses many times. Battelle and his comrades also became volunteer fire safety propagandists. At the same time, Battelle also quietly funded a pair of little sisters on the grassland, which he did not say, and it took many years for others to find out.

At the end of last year, the higher-level party committee studied and wanted to transfer Battle to the organ. But he refused.

Some people say he is stupid, and grass-roots firefighting is the world of young people, who are too old to be in the front line. Battelle said that he was born in 1990 and is now in his current year. He also said that foreign firefighters can work until the age of 60. Besides, after working on the front line for a long time, they are relatively rich in experience.

Battelle’s statement is not without basis. He has a hobby and likes to collect professional books on fire protection, and there are several thick notes just excerpted. Some people think that those professional knowledge should be studied by scholars in the industry. But Battelle does not see it this way. In his words, our country’s fire protection industry is aiming at the international first-class level. As the main force of emergency rescue, firefighters themselves must be well-qualified.

Battelle influenced and motivated his comrades, and now they are all experts in fire rescue.

Wu

But sometimes, comrades-in-arms also complain about Battelle.

Why do you say that? Because Battelle’s training and management are too strict, it makes his comrades breathless. Battelle doesn’t care about this. He said that the fire scene is not a child’s play, usually sweat more, and bleed less in wartime.

The truth is right, but people still don’t understand it sometimes. Moreover, Battelle is in a hurry, and things have to be done on the same day. Some young people think he is nit-picking.

Later, a team held a democratic life meeting, and a young firefighter offered his opinion, saying that Battelle only knew how to focus on training and management, and did not get along with everyone.

Bartle thought that the standard of work cannot be lowered, but he can do it by getting along with everyone. After that, he always wondered how to get along with his comrades. In time for the Spring Festival, the team had a party, and he took the lead in dancing on the stage. For the effect of the performance, Bartle acted cute, and his funny dance made everyone laugh. Everyone sighed that Bartle also has such a cute side.

After that, Battelle led everyone to transform into a fitness expert. His goal was to train scientifically so that his comrades could have good physical fitness.

Afterwards, the young firefighter said to Battelle, "Captain, I admire you."

Without a doubt, his comrades really understood him. They also understood that disasters and accidents are the real enemies. Usually, the requirements are stricter, that’s right!

At this moment, there were bursts of training horns in his ears, and Battelle turned his head to look out the window. A beautiful picture appeared in front of his eyes – on the grassland, he and his comrades seemed to have become a steed with hooves, galloping freely in the vast world…