Whichever the workplace I go, there is always a topic going on and on. It’s about the operation procedure in fire accident. I’ve been through all different sorts of the education in 3 places. And normally we have at least once a quarter that we need to sit together and listen to some professional ones talk about that and practise how to use extinguisher or fire blanket.

At the beginning I was amazed by how much the fire education has been put in such an important position in Australia. People get trained or tested very often. You can always get someone speaking via the amplifier saying that “Attention please. This is the test. No action is required”, and then all the alarm started going. We would carry our hand bags and queer in a line as the fire warden instructed and go out for the meeting place. That was funny because everybody knows there was no fire at all, and we were just pretending to escape from the building, so everybody laughs about that and stepped out talking, smiling and feeling like playing the game.

Anyway, it’s not a game. And after many times’ practising, things get planted in the mind. I have gotten used to be called up with this topic so much that if there is no one tells me about the fire planning in a new place, I would be very surprised. Actually it’s our responsibility to make sure we know every place of where the fire extinguisher and blanket are. If no one tells us, and neither did we ask about that, it would become our fault if something happens.

The funny thing I also found out is, in Australia, the fire operation procedure in most of places is about how to escape and evacuate the people in the building. There is no acting bravely been encouraged whatever the situation is. We are required to get out of there as soon as possible instead of playing a hero saving the company’s properties or other people’s lives. There is nothing important than making sure you are safe and get away from the fire field. But what have we been told in China? No education about fire accident at all….no procedure has been taught to students at all….no knowledge about exits or extinguisher using has been passed on to employees at all. I bet no more than 1% people in a Chinese organization knows where can find the extinguisher in their working place. And probably 50% people don’t know where to find an alternative exit if their place catch the fire. Look, I am not blaming because it’s really none of my business, especially now. I just can’t help comparing them in this way. The fire education in China is just too poor. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been hundreds of people lost their lives in only one fire accident (We heard this sort of thing in China too much, did we?).

Anyway, the fire education in the Nursing home I used to stay was a bit different. I was taught to transfer the immobilized aged people (they can not move themselves) from the bed to outside with the sheet, and I also actually used the fire extinguisher and fire blanket for the first time to put off the fire in a big basin. That’s the only place encourages people to do something with fire. For the rest of places, they just tell you to follow the instruction and leave as fast as you can.

Okay, what’s my role in this place for the fire accident operation? I developed a floor plan of this office with PowerPoint (not Viso). I am not going to be a volunteer fire warden because I don’t like the red helmet and yellow vest, neither do I like to blow the whistle Just joking….