Beijing on alert for fire during Spring Festival

Beijing's public security authorities have deployed seven police choppers and mobilized large number of people to keep watch fireworks-triggered emergencies on the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday starting from Sunday.

The choppers will conduct 50 hours of flight in total during the seven-day holiday, the only time when fireworks are allowed to be let off in Beijing's city proper, Yang Dongfeng, head of the Police Chopper Corps of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, said.

The choppers conducted aerial monitoring on Sunday and sent back real-time images to the ground control during the peak hours, such as midnight, when people set off fireworks to celebrate the coming of new year, Yang said.

Meanwhile, more than 910,000 people, including police officers and civilian volunteers, were mobilized to patrol busy commercial districts and residential areas Sunday night to prevent potential fire risks.

Weeks earlier, Beijing police had beefed up security at the city's border by checking every vehicle that enters the capital to prevent people bringing in substandard fireworks which were louder, more powerful but unsafe for the non-professionals to set off.

Beijing allows people to buy fireworks at nearly 1,500 licensed stores within the fifth Ring Road. Over the past three weeks, local police had seized more than 12,000 cartons of such banned fireworks, closed 32 illegal stores and penalized 29 people.

To come to the rescue of the people suffering fireworks-related injuries, Tongren Hospital, China's leading hospital for ophthalmic medicine and surgery, has had 14 ophthalmologists at the emergency on duty this week, in preparing for a surge in the number of out-patients during the holiday.

During last year's holiday week, the hospital treated 206 patients with fireworks-induced injuries, 178 of whom suffered eye injuries. The youngest was only two years old, said Dr. Lu Hai, deputy chief of the hospital's ophthalmic center.

The fireworks were originally intended to scare away the "Nian" (year in Chinese), a mythical beast supposed to have preyed on people and livestock at the turn of the year. The monster, however, was afraid of bangs and the red color. Although few now believe the existence of the monster, Chinese families carry on the tradition of setting off fireworks.

Apart from the new year eve, the fifth day and the first full moon of the Year of Dragon which falls on Jan. 27 and Feb. 6 respectively will also be tough days for fire control departments as the Chinese love to set off fireworks at the two days to wish for fortune and luck, said Yang.