Chapter 233: Fortunately we arrived early; otherwise the fire would have already gone out

The fire engine raced along with its siren wailing.

In about ten minutes, the fire engine arrived at Lijing Huayuan Xiaoqu.

Before even entering the community, they could clearly see from outside that a house on the seventh floor was spewing thick rolling smoke.

A person was crouched on the balcony, apparently calling for help.

"That much smoke means the fire must be serious. Leave a few people below to rescue with the fire ladder, and the rest of us will go in to extinguish!"

As soon as they reached the scene, the firefighters drafted a plan and quickly prepared to execute it.

A few would stay to use the fire ladder to rescue the people trapped on the seventh floor.

The remaining firefighters would enter the blaze to put it out.

Rescue and fire‑suppression proceeded simultaneously.

Under the firefighters' control, the rescue platform lifted by the fire ladder's mechanical arm rose slowly.

In no time it reached the edge of the seventh‑floor balcony.

"Give me the railing, grab my hand and come over; I'll pull you down first!" the firefighter called to the person trapped on the balcony.

The trapped man said nothing, didn't wait for the firefighter to pull him, and jumped onto the rescue platform of the fire ladder himself.

He thanked the firefighter at the same time.

"Thank you, you arrived just in time!"

Seeing the man's decisiveness, the firefighter breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and said, "You're welcome. Is anyone else trapped inside?"

"No, just me."

"Then that's fine."

The rescued person's cooperation saved the firefighters a lot of trouble.

It should be noted that rescuing with a ladder used to be fraught with difficulties.

Some were afraid of heights and wouldn't step onto the rescue platform.

Some were thinking about unfinished valuables at home and didn't want to leave, only urging the firefighters to extinguish the fire quickly.

There were also those so terrified they were limp and couldn't stand, requiring the firefighters to exert great effort to get them onto the rescue platform.

All kinds of situations kept arising.

And each was more troublesome than the last.

Every rescue would waste a lot of time.

But they had never seen anything so efficient.

The firefighters expressed great satisfaction!

……

First floor.

A few firefighters jogged in.

The police officers stepped aside on their own.

They hadn't intended to deal with anyone entering; they would only check people coming out.

Moreover, these people were firefighters.

Seeing them like that, they probably were in a hurry to fight the fire.

So the police officers were even less likely to block them.

In fact, some enthusiastic officers even wanted to go up and help.

"Han Team, should we go up and help them?"

"Why would we go? Let's not add chaos; each profession has its specialty. If we go, we might just cause trouble," Han Fei shook his head and said.

It's not that he didn't want to help.

It's simply a mismatch of expertise.

He's still fairly good at catching criminals, but firefighting…

Better to leave it alone; professional tasks should stay with professionals.

If amateurs like them go up, they'll only hinder.

"Exactly, we're better off not causing trouble…," the officer who had suggested helping nodded, then added, "I have no idea who carelessly started this fire."

"Sigh, everyone says we police have it hard; I feel the firefighters work even harder—they're heroes running into danger!" Chen Ke said, gazing at the firefighters' backs.

It was a heartfelt thought.

Firefighters are not only hard‑working, they're also in danger.

In a blaze, rescuing and extinguishing can easily lead to injury or even death with one slip.

Moreover, a firefighter's duties aren't limited to fighting fire; they're busy with other things.

Whenever people encounter an unsolvable problem, they call them.

Things like a head stuck in a stair gap, a butt wedged in a toilet, a kitten fallen into a drain, a ring or bracelet that won't come off… and so on.

The key is, they actually handle all these miscellaneous issues.

As soon as they get a call, they dispatch immediately.

Climbing the stairs to the seventh floor, the firefighters retrieved a fire hose from the stairwell's fire cabinet.

They then opened the door of room 706.

Upon entering, they were stunned.

This…

The scene before them was completely different from what they had imagined.

When they saw the thick smoke pouring from the seventh‑floor window downstairs, they thought the fire was massive and the situation urgent.

Who would have thought they were the ones who got it wrong.

The fire is not big at all!

The situation is not urgent at all!

Moreover, the area of the fire is very small; the living room and bedroom are fine, only the balcony caught fire.

The combustible material was the curtains and the clothes hanging on the drying rack.

Aside from the curtains and the clothes, there was no other flammable material nearby.

Fortunately they arrived early; otherwise the fire would have gone out!

As for the thick rolling smoke they saw downstairs, it was because the curtains and the clothes were pressed together, and incomplete combustion produced that much smoke.

A false alarm.

The firefighters all let out a sigh of relief.

Carrying the hose taken from the fire cabinet in the hallway, they walked in.

They doused the still‑burning curtains and clothes with water, extinguishing the flames.

The person was rescued, and the fire was put out.

The operation concluded successfully!

Afterwards, the firefighters returned the hose to the glass fire cabinet in the hallway and turned to leave.

Come to think of it, a small fire like this can be extinguished just by pouring a few buckets of water on it.

If handled properly, they wouldn't even be needed.

But the firefighters didn't complain about anything.

Because it's their job.

And calling them at the first sign of a fire is the right thing to do.

After all, if the fire is not handled well, calling them later when it spreads would be too late.

…

First floor.

A few firefighters rode the elevator and walked out.

From the moment they went upstairs until now, the whole process took no more than ten minutes.

Is that it? Extinguishing the fire can't be that fast!

Watching the firefighters emerge from the elevator, Chen Ke looked a little bewildered.

He instinctively stepped forward and asked.

"Comrade, what's the situation up there? Is there a fire? How did you come down so quickly?"

The firefighter nodded.

"Yes, it's a fire, but the problem is minor—just the curtains and clothes on the balcony caught fire, a small blaze that went out with a single spray."

After answering Chen Ke, the firefighter looked puzzled at the police officers standing at the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Hey, we're catching someone; a kid is hiding in this building. There are too many rooms upstairs to search, so we're just waiting here." Chen Ke replied.

At that moment, the firefighter's walkie‑talkie crackled.

"The person has already been rescued via the Fire Ladder, fortunately unharmed. We've taken care of it here, stand by, we're heading over to help you now!"

One of the firefighters quickly grabbed the walkie‑talkie and responded.

"No need to come over; it was just a tiny fire, put out instantly, as long as the person is fine."

Hearing this, Han Fei instinctively felt something was off.

Fire Ladder… if I recall correctly, its mechanical arm can extend from the first floor up to twenty or thirty floors, allowing direct rescues.

He suddenly had a bold speculation.

Could it be that Xu Mo was the person rescued by the Fire Ladder!?