— — In this world, life is dying every day. What can be used to prove that we have been here?
— — Someone remembers.
Chen Lu, Party Secretary and Political Instructor of Lujiang County Fire Rescue Brigade in Hefei City, Anhui Province, is such a person who will be remembered forever.
From July 18 to 21, heavy rain fell in Hefei, Anhui Province, and Lujiang County suffered a once-in-a-century flood. The water levels of many rivers exceeded the historical peak. Chen Lu led the brigade’s fire fighters to five towns and villages, fought for 96 hours, successfully transferred and rescued 2665 people, but he himself stayed in the front line of flood control forever.
On July 26th, Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League and Anhui Youth Federation posthumously awarded Comrade Chen Lu the "Anhui Youth May 4th Medal". On July 27th, Comrade Chen Lu was rated as a martyr by the Emergency Management Department, and was awarded the first class merit. On July 28th, the Party Committee of the Fire Rescue Bureau of the Emergency Management Department posthumously awarded Comrade Chen Lu as "Outstanding Communist party member of the National Fire Rescue Team". On July 30th, Anhui Provincial Party Committee posthumously awarded Comrade Chen Lu the title of "Excellent Communist party member of Anhui Province". At 9: 00 a.m. on July 30, at the farewell ceremony of the body of the martyr Chen Lu, nearly a thousand relatives, friends, comrades-in-arms, people from all walks of life and the masses bid farewell to Chen Lu’s last journey with a heavy heart. Sorrow is hard to suppress. I only hope that letters can silently tell those sorrows and thoughts that tears can’t express … …
Dear brother:
Since then, you and I have been separated by two days, and if there is a wish, dreams will be entrusted! Don’t worry about things at home, our brothers must keep them in mind!
Hearing the bad news of your falling into the water, I rushed over all night to look for you on the water with your comrades. I wish I could see you waving at me on a branch of a tree somewhere, next to a telephone pole or on the roof in a flood. Until the afternoon of the 24th, I finally found you, but I didn’t want to. You left us.
At that moment, I froze. I don’t know how to face your departure, and I don’t know how to talk to your closest relatives.
When I walked into your office again, it was empty, and there was a pile of medicine for skin pain on the table. You left in a hurry and didn’t have time to clean it up, just as you left, you came so unprepared.
From July 18th to 22nd, you fought for four days in a row on the front line of flood control. You are really stupid. There are harmful substances such as fertilizer, feces and animal carcasses in the water, which is very corrosive. You still wade in the water again and again to pick up the trapped people. As a result, your knees are red and swollen, and you can hardly bend and walk normally. Even your soaked pants can only be taken off by your teammates. At that time, they wouldn’t let you go out again, but when you got a call and heard that someone was trapped, you gritted your teeth and rushed out.
You said that you are familiar with this water area, and you are good at water. You can’t worry about letting others go! Yes, you won the swimming competition in the city. At that time, you just made a round trip to rescue several trapped villagers. You were familiar with the road conditions, and the number of rescue boats was increased to five, so someone needed to take the lead. So when you proposed to go again, everyone let you go, although they were distressed by your health.
Unexpectedly, this is a farewell!
On that day, as always, you volunteered to lead the way. When you went there, the dam breach was only 5 meters. On the way back, the dam breach quickly increased to more than 40 meters, and the water level difference suddenly soared from 40 centimeters to more than 3 meters. The "rolling dam" which is the most unpredictable, difficult to save oneself and prone to danger in water rescue has appeared … …
"Turn around, turn around!" The boat capsized! Your assault boat shook violently under the collision of rapids, and all five people on board were sucked into the "rolling dam".
Fortunately, all three comrades were rescued, but you and Wang Song, deputy secretary of the Party branch of Lianhe Village, have disappeared. Your mother was shocked to hear the bad news and murmured, "It’s a good thing they’re all right, otherwise how can we tell their parents?" Hearing this sentence, I felt very sad at that time, but I also vaguely understood why you have been sticking to the grassroots level and why you are always at the forefront in case of major disasters!
Your grandfather is a veteran of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and your father is the first generation of Anhui border guards. You are a family with red genes. Low-key and introverted, dedication and sacrifice have long been engraved in your bones.
In 2008, Hefei suffered a major snowstorm once in 50 years, with a thickness of 40 cm. In order to keep the "vegetable basket" of Hefei citizens — — Hefei Zhougudui Vegetable Wholesale Market will not affect the supply of vegetables in the whole city. We are going to arrange firemen to go to the roof and wash the snow down with water guns to reduce the load of greenhouses. If you don’t trust, you have to go on it yourself and work from 8 pm to 6 am the next day. In the morning, I received another snow cleaning task from another factory. In this way, after working for two days and two nights, you didn’t have much rest. Your feet were soaked with snow, and only your family knew that your left big toe was almost amputated. Since then, it has fallen to the root of the disease, and it hurts when it rains.
In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the environment was very difficult, and the rescue task was extremely heavy. You were not acclimatized, and your whole body was blistered, your immune system was disordered, and your legs were bitten by poisonous insects. You dragged your legs and carried more than 60 kilograms of demolition equipment, and you persisted in fighting in the earthquake zone for 10 days.
On February 20, 2011, a taxi accidentally hit the locomotive, and five people were trapped, including a baby who was starving. On April 26th, 2011, there was a sudden fire in Yaohai electromechanical market, and you were always in the front line!
You take personal gains and losses lightly, and your responsibility and mission seriously. You’ve given away so many meritorious service and awards to others. When you become the chief of the brigade, I thought you would be in the rear of the town and command, which is relatively safe. Unexpectedly, you will still charge in the front line and fight with the players! In 2016, in the flood control in Lujiang County, you fainted due to continuous fatigue and were rushed to the hospital. It took two hours to save your life, but you never asked the organization or even mentioned it.
You said, "I am in the fire, in the front line of rescue, and every time I rescue the trapped people with my own hands, I feel very warm and fulfilled when I see the people’s satisfied smiles and hear their thanks. I feel that I am engaged in the most sunny business in the world. This is my life value."
You said, "I like being at the grass-roots level and leading troops. It is my greatest trust to organize and hand over the team to me. I want to be worthy of the organization, the parents of the players, and my conscience in the middle."
You said, "It’s better to serve others with virtue than with coercion. When there is danger, I stand in the front, and everyone will follow me, so it will be no problem. The most important thing to bring troops at the grassroots level is responsibility. "
"Firefighting" is a profession that knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefers to travel in the mountains. Every night when you are out of the police, you always have to wait until the car comes back and you hear the brakes, then you will put out the lights in the office.
The team members all say that every time they see the light on in the middle of the night, they feel very safe. With you around, no matter how tired we are, everyone is full of energy. There is an alarm clock at 2 am in your mobile phone, because you go to see how the players sleep at this time every day. You don’t have any leadership airs. For many years, whenever the family members of firefighters come, you insist on picking them up and seeing them off in person when you leave. You are the closest brother, comrade-in-arms and big brother of the players.
You are the indomitable spirit of man of iron at work and the pillar of the whole family. The fire truck model on your desk is a gift you prepared for your child, but you didn’t have time to give it away. You said that you plan to have another daughter next year, so you can have both children! Your whole family was shrouded in great grief after receiving the bad news of your sacrifice in fighting floods and transferring people.
However, the family still wrote a personal letter: "At present, the flood control situation in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River basins is still very serious. Our family hopes that the leaders of the fire rescue team will focus on the overall situation of flood control and flood fighting, and don’t involve too much energy for Chen Lu’s aftermath. " How can such a family member who understands the righteousness deeply not be admirable!
I wish the nightmare had never started. You are still the fire commander who rushed to the front and the most dangerous place, and the gentle father whose only circle of friends is the birth photo of his son … …
Do you need heroes in peacetime?
Need! A hero is the person who may stand where we can’t see, but must stand in front of each of us in times of crisis!
Brother, you are my hero! May I be your brother in the next life!
Brother: Liu Shuhu
"thirty-six years of passionate life, the soul of the hero is not lost, and the heart is reflected in the mountains and rivers; Nineteen years of fire and water youth, loyal and brave for the people to go to difficulties. " This is an elegy written by a comrade-in-arms for Chen Lu, which condensed his short and passionate life.
The fire rescue team is the closest and most closely connected with the people, and it is also one of the most dangerous jobs in peacetime. Save the people from fire and water, help the people in danger, dare to go up in the mountains, dare to rush in the sea of fire, stand the test in blood and fire, stand up when the people are in danger, where there is danger, there are them!
The hero has gone. The land he guarded with his life and the people who live on this land will always keep this respect in their hearts and pass on the spirit of people first and life first forever. A promising nation cannot live without heroes, and a promising country cannot live without pioneers. Today’s peace is condensed by the spirits and melted by the blood of heroes; The future peace depends on the protection and guarantee of heroes. Remember the hero, admire the hero, defend the hero, learn from the hero, care for the hero and praise the hero, so that the hero will never walk alone.
Reporter: Zhang Ruiling Yang Yue
Audio: Yang Yue Xin Wang (internship)
Typesetting: Yan Yujie (internship)
China Youth Daily China Youth Network
China young writers newspaper
China Academy of Social Sciences University Media College
Zhejiang Communication University School of Journalism and Communication
Joint production
