12 Year-old Girl Rescued: Firefighter Dies in the Line of Duty
Firefighters rescued a girl trapped in a residence on fire in Kaohsiung today, but one firefighter lost his life due to smoke inhalation.
At around 11:40am this morning, the fire department received reports of a fire at a 4 storey house in Qieding District of Kaohsiung City. According to reports in Apple Daily and other Chinese language media sources, the fire started in a kitchen, and was not intense, but generated a lot of smoke.
When firefighters arrived at the scene they were alerted to the fact a 12 year-old girl was trapped in the building.
At 11:52am, four firefighters entered the building from the front door and went upstairs to search for the girl. Three of the firefighters turned right, while the fourth firefighter, Tsai Bei-sheng (蔡倍昇), turned left after ascending the stairs to search rooms in that direction.
The group of three firefighters located the girl and exited the building by ladder via a balcony at 12:05pm. Tsai remained in the building and confirmed his position on the second floor by radio communication at 12:08pm saying that there were no abnormalities. At 12:12pm, Tsai called by radio that he had lost his way in the building and needed support.
A rescue team entered the building and located Tsai at 12:25pm. Tsai’s breathing apparatus was out of oxygen and he was unconscious without signs of breathing or heartbeat. Tsai was rushed to Tainan City Hospital but was declared dead at 1:37pm.
Firefighter Tsai’s wife rushed to the hospital with their one year-old son, only to find her 34 year-old husband had passed away.
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