Paying it forward

Firefighter traces his journey from earthquake victim to lifesaver

On May 12, 2008, Jiang Yuhang, who had just been assigned to the highway administration office of Yingxiu town in Wenchuan county, was buried in the ruins during the Wenchuan Earthquake.

At 17:12 on May 17, after being trapped for 125 hours, Jiang was rescued by the Shanghai fire brigade.

"It was the firefighters who gave me a second life. So, I was eager to become one of them," he says.

At the end of 2008, the 20-year-old man's wish came true and he became a firefighter with the same team that saved his life.

In May 2009, Jiang received an orange emergency rescue suit and joined the Pengpu squadron of the special service detachment of the Shanghai fire brigade.

Then, a house on the fifth floor of a building in Shanghai was on fire. Jiang was the first one who dashed into the fire, managing to pick up the child and get him out.

At the end of August 2011, Jiang entered the Kunming command school of the public security firefighting force, and also joined the Communist Party of China.

After that, he was promoted to deputy commander of the Pengpu squadron of the special service detachment of the Shanghai fire brigade.

At the end of March 2018, Jiang was transferred from Shanghai to his hometown, Kaili city in Guizhou province, as assistant to the war fighting brigade of the city's southeastern fire brigade.

Speaking about his professional journey, Jiang says: "In the past decade, I have learned a lot. And I will use what I learned to give back to my hometown."