By Wei Na
A video in which a car deliberately blocks a fire truck on its way to a fire, has led to a furious outcry from the public, as well as an appeal from firefighters for Beijing's drivers to be more cooperative when they hear or see a fire truck approaching.
Many media outlets, including the People's Daily online, posted the 12-second clip yesterday, in which a white car is seen cutting off a fire truck, with its lights and siren on.
The fire truck was one of 16 responding to a fire in a restaurant on Guijie (Ghost Street), in Doncheng district on Thursday, said the Beijing News yesterday. The trucks were dispatched from Dongcheng firefighting department, although yesterday, the department refused to comment.
A Web user who witnessed the incident, said on Sina Weibo that five fire engines were blocked on the street in the bad traffic that day, and only one car tried to pull over.
"Tragically, another cut up the truck right after that car yielded," the Web user said.
Almost every microblog with the forwarded video received several hundred comments from people furious at the behavior of the drivers. So far, the driver has not been identified. No one died or was severely injured in the restaurant fire.
Yesterday, Gao Yang from Huairou fire department said that vehicles only block their fire trucks occasionally.
However, a firefighter from Chaoyang fire department who declined to be named, said often people do not know what to do when a fire truck is approaching.
"During one call, we honked for people to get out of the way, but some drivers just ignored us and kept moving," he said.
"We all know the roads in Beijing are congested. Trying to respond to emergency calls is really a big challenge here, so we'd really appreciate it if the public could offer more cooperation," he noted.
What upset Web users more was another 2-minute video from Germany, which showed cars pulling over as soon as they heard a fire siren.
"We have two laws forbidding private cars blocking emergency vehicles, and the punishments range from warnings, fines, even to detention," said Liu Wenyi, a lawyer at Beijing Kangda law firm.
One of the laws regulates road traffic safety, the other specifically refers to fire protection.
"But clearly, the different videos shows drivers' ignorance of road traffic laws, while the public in Germany pays more attention to how serious the situation is," Liu said.
Li Chanyu contributed to this story