Chapter 528 - 417 Rotating Suppression

Not every fire can be extinguished directly.

The factory area is too large inside, and it’s burning fiercely, making it impossible to break in. In fact, most of the water doesn’t even reach the fire source; it’s only suppressing the situation.

Faced with the unstable structure of the factory building, they dare not dismantle it to create a range for their water jets.

Just now, when the tile shed roof collapsed, everyone saw that the factory was burning to a crisp, like a centenarian. Touch it, and it might just collapse.

If it falls, it won’t just be a simple matter of blaming someone, but dragging people down with it.

Fang Huai already had a clear understanding of all this in his heart.

But it was only his first time leading a team on police dispatch, facing the raging inferno, and he didn’t want to admit defeat.

Luckily, after the foam-laden water hose sprayed rapidly for 10 minutes, there was indeed a suppressing effect. The flames were still pushing, but the fire at the top of the outer walls no longer burst outward, and although thick smoke continued to billow, the momentum of the blaze was contained within the factory.

The surrounding buildings became a bit less dangerous.

Time is money. As the spread of heat subsided a bit, it afforded them the chance to respond in other ways.

It was then that Fang Huai picked up the two-way radio and shouted:

"Have the vehicles outside moved away yet? If not, let the command center contact the Traffic Police to notify them! Stress the urgency! Tell them if we have to tow their vehicles, we’re not responsible for the damage, and they’ll have to pay a fine!"

"The police have already contacted them; they’re moving! Drivers of the big trucks are on their way here!"

"How can it work with just the big trucks moving? The small ones need to go too! We need a clean road!"

At this moment, Chen Zhenghai’s voice came through the two-way radio.

"I’m at the gate!"

Meanwhile, a heavy blast of honking came from the road outside.

"Hold on, don’t rush in! There’s no room to maneuver the vehicles!"

Fang Huai yelled into the two-way radio, then turned to the commanders of the other two squadrons:

"Hurry up and use up the water in your trucks, turn around and go find a nearby fire hydrant to refill! You know where the fire hydrants in your area are, right?"

For a fire truck to drive, the water tank can only be in one of two states.

One is full, the other is empty; otherwise, half a tank of sloshing water can cause significant impact damage to the tank and could lead to damage.

These precious vehicles still need to be carefully maintained.

So the best thing for them to do now is to quickly use up the water before heading out.

Upon hearing this, Captain Bai bellowed, "Okay! There should be four or five fire hydrants within a kilometer range. We can refill at the same time! At least 40 minutes for a round trip. Can you withstand the fire in the meantime?"

Fang Huai picked up the two-way radio again.

"Car 1, Car 3, report your water levels."

"Car 1 has half a tank left."

"Car 3 has two-thirds remaining!"

Fang Huai calculated for a moment and said, "Car 1, add another nozzle and increase the pressure. Try to spray the surrounding buildings to cool them down. Hurry up and use up the water, then go refill with the others. Car 3, control the water output. When they leave, increase the flow."

"Okay!"

"Received!"

The fire trucks from the three squadrons sprayed water with abandon, and the output was quite extravagant.

After several minutes, all the buildings around were emitting white smoke. The steam took away a great deal of heat, leaving only a 13-ton Car 3 inside, with almost all other vehicles running out of water.

The fire was temporarily suppressed inside the factory building, but seeing the flames still struggling to break out, everyone knew this was a major battle.

The Guiyang Regiment’s Full Attendance Command had arrived, but their vehicles were blocked outside. Fang Huai didn’t let them come in.

Any vehicle that couldn’t spray water coming in here would only add to the chaos.

Everyone was busy collecting water hoses to clear the way for the fire trucks to leave.

To be honest, the drivers’ skills were up to par, and they were brave as well.

Several vehicles took a turn in front of the blazing factory entrance, and when they turned around, the rear of the vehicles barely grazed the edge of the building. They crushed the broken tiles underneath with a crunch, then one by one, they left to find water to continue fighting the fire.

Inside, the place suddenly became spacious, with only Car 3 remaining.

With the loss of massive water control, the sound of the fire burning also grew louder.

A group of combatants who hadn’t left with the vehicles looked at Fang Huai.

"What now?"

Fang Huai raised his hand. "Car 3, refill! No foam needed now, focus on controlling the spreading flames on the second floor’s outer walls. Let it burn!

Everyone else, drink some water, take a break! This battle is going to last at least another five or six hours!"

With that, he figured the vehicles had all left and picked up the two-way radio:

"Chen Zhenghai, you can come in now! The factory entrance, plus the road width, can give you a 12 by 6 size to deploy. You’ve seen the road width. That’s how wide it is inside. You’ll need more than fifteen meters for an upward arm extension, and about eighteen meters forward. Any problem deploying? If not, we can tear down the nearby wall right now."

Through the two-way radio, Chen Zhenghai’s laughter rang out immediately:

"No need to tear it down, you can even build the wall higher."

At his words, everyone laughed, feeling somewhat relieved.

Fang Huai also smiled, "Alright, come in! Fire the water cannon to cover the top, control the temperature. For 40 minutes, empty all the water from your truck."

"Man, you’re really putting me on the spot. Seven tons of water, two tons of foam, a fire cannon with 10 bars and 80B flow rate, and you want me to fire for 40 minutes?"

"Then just fire away. While controlling the temperature spill from the factory building, quickly bring down the surrounding temperature completely."

"Heh, piece of cake."

...

Ten minutes later.

Chief of Staff Zhou and a few cadres from the Command Department walked in and looked up at the rapidly deploying high spray arm over the factory area, clicking their tongues.

"This new thing is definitely more handy than the aerial ladder truck, the big arm is way more flexible than the aerial ladder," Chief of Staff Zhou stroked his chin and said.

Fang Huai smiled and said, "When it comes to water shooting, this is certainly much more professional than the aerial ladder truck. The main purpose of the aerial ladder is for the evacuation of personnel and important supplies, water shooting is just an auxiliary function."

The second squadron also just received the high-spray fire truck after the equipment bidding in July.

In fact, there was also a one-to-seven urban main battle vehicle, which was the one Fang Huai introduced to the provincial leaders at that time. However, it involves the renewal of nearly the entire brigade’s city squadron’s main battle vehicles, with as many as fifty orders placed, so they have not yet arrived.

This high-spray fire truck, now in front of them, was still a new thing for the Guiyang Regiment. The first batch of high-spray trucks that entered the whole corps had not been distributed to the provincial city.

However, it’s quite good; this time, they were given three of them all at once, and the mechanical arms and power systems were the latest models.

So a group of soldiers, leaning against the wall wiping sweat and guzzling water, were curiously inspecting it.

Chen Zhenghai had been studying this gadget for a long time, and now that he had the chance to showcase it, he went all out.

Engaging the pump for water intake, firing the water cannon, adjusting the spray.

"Swoosh..."

The water volume was truly astonishing.

Don’t look at that little arm supported in the sky, once full horsepower is unleashed, it’s no joke. The half-open burst of foam mixture immediately covered the entire factory roof, and the smoke was completely blocked by the huge splash of water.

This device was designed specifically for tall buildings. A 32-meter tall firefighting truck with high-spray capabilities had to reach up to the fifteenth floor, so you can imagine the supply pressure. With the downward angle of attack, bricks and tiles on the rooftop were being knocked loose and starting to fall.

"Wow..."

The firefighters all gasped in amazement.

Fang Huai also clicked his tongue twice in admiration.

Damn, my weapon of destiny has to be a cannon.

If it wasn’t for the sake of saving water, he would have liked to use the onboard cannon on the thirteen-ton roof earlier.

But now it seems, a ground cannon is insufficient; only air-to-ground gives the real thrill.

Unfortunately, the factory building was solid; inside baked and outside washed, it still showed no sign of collapsing.

"Squad Leader Chen, open up the nozzle to the maximum and give the surroundings a good douse!"

Fang Huai shouted, pointing at a few areas around that had been missed earlier.

Earlier, while cursing in the factory, a police officer came over to talk to him about the situation here.

Around this factory, there are dozens of residential buildings, which were built by a large state-owned enterprise nearby. Originally this was all state-owned property, but after its collapse and asset restructuring, some plots were sold to private enterprises for factory construction. These factories also absorbed some of the original factory workers.

It was the large-scale absorption of laid-off workers that allowed the government to continuously tolerate these factories’ outdated facilities.

It’s not easy.

These four words encapsulate the bitter helplessness of the city’s infrastructure severely lacking in certain areas.

The police told him this to keep him from getting annoyed.

A cursory check here is easy; he can guarantee that a serious firefighting inspection would mean not a single factory could continue to operate.

But Fang Huai, upon calming down, thought it over and understood that while it is simple for firefighting to issue fines and closure notices, local governments have to face massive and complex takeover tasks, as well as the resettlement of thousands of workers and their families.

Doing practical work, especially as a cadre, you have to accommodate many things that policies don’t allow, even things the law can’t accept.

The local development is so helpless; they in firefighting can only do their best.

Fang Huai took a deep breath and said:

"Chief of Staff, we can only wait for this factory to burn down, we dare not enter, and can only control the temperature to prevent spreading.

Afterward, we’ll probably need to dispatch several nearby squadrons to go through the surrounding factories one by one to check for fire hazards. Considering the density of these residential buildings, in some places houses are completely out of sight. If a large fire breaks out, considering the population density here, it’s truly terrifying."

Chief of Staff Zhou folded his arms and nodded.

"Just prevention is not enough, we must ensure this road and fire hydrants are up to par. When I go back, I’ll suggest to Captain Li to conduct a joint inspection of this area with the urban construction and transportation departments.

Those that need to be rectified must be given a deadline for changes.

Don’t worry, this kind of situation won’t persist."

Chief of Staff Zhou said leisurely, then turned to look at Fang Huai and smiled.

"Young man, in a blink of an eye, you’ve become a cadre. How does it feel? Is it difficult to lead a team? The detachment leadership is very concerned about your growth."

Fang Huai straightened up and said, "Thank you for the leadership’s concern! Other than feeling a great sense of responsibility, everything else is quite good!"

Chief of Staff Zhou raised his hand and patted Fang Huai on the shoulder, saying:

"The burden may be heavy, but the future is even brighter! The Second Squadron’s path, leading all the way to the whole corps, is something we hadn’t expected!

I’ve spoken to Captain Zhang about transferring you to the Command Department to specialize in combat training after you’ve worked in the Second Squadron for a year or two, but he rather hopes you’d earnestly work at the grassroots level for a few years. What do you think?"

Fang Huai’s gaze shifted slightly.

Chief of Staff Zhou’s suggestion might be to break away from the constraints of homegrown cadres and enter the government agency to pursue a route of leading soldiers, which could be the only way he saw for Fang Huai to climb higher.

His uncle had discussed this idea with him before.

If he were to attend graduate school, he shouldn’t be labeled as a combat training cadre, as promotion still requires a position. If he were to go up the ranks in combat training, it would be hard for him to reach higher levels. To have more opportunities, he needed to break the limits of his abilities and become a versatile player.

However, they were all mistaken.

He had no intention of waiting in line for promotions. Following the reform’s trajectory was his own path.

The bigger the plan, the higher the rank, the greater his capacity would be.

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, I just want to do my job well. The Second Squadron is an excellent platform, enough for me to utilize for a few years,"

Fang Huai finished speaking and picked up the two-way radio, saying:

"High-spray truck, the fire on the rooftop has flared up again, switch to a direct stream and suppress it from the third-floor window. Don’t let the fire spread out."

Chief of Staff Zhou turned his head, looking at Fang Huai, who was intently staring at the factory building, and nodded to himself in approval.

This kid, he had been somewhat dissatisfied with at first, but now he’s growing increasingly pleasing to the eye.

"Alright! If you have any difficulties, just give me a call!"