Police officer saves woman from apartment fire

Tang Jian, director of the Wusi Police Station in Fengxian District, saved a woman from a fire on Thursday, the district police said on Friday.

Fire broke out in a building in Haicheng residential complex at 3pm on Thursday.

Tang, who was working in the police station at that time, saw heavy smoke rising from a building northwest of the station, and immediately went there with other police officers. In the meantime, the fire was reported to the police station.

When Tang arrived on the scene, a 68-year-old man surnamed Gu who lives in a second-floor apartment that caught fire had escaped, but his 63-year-old wife was still trapped inside.

Firefighters had not yet arrived, so the officers tried to use fire hoses available at the complex to bring the fire under control.

"I could hear someone calling out for help from the second floor, and the thick smoke could overcome her at any moment if she wasn't evacuated immediately," Tang said afterwards.

As the fire and smoke were slightly subdued, Tang took off his uniform, soaked it with water and entered the building to save the trapped woman.

"I couldn't see anything and could only follow her voice," he said. "I covered my mouth and nose with my wet uniform, but I still found it hard to breathe."

After a minute, Tang reached the woman, carried her on his back and went down a flight of stairs while following the light.

The woman was not injured.

Tang, 40, started to work as a police officer in Fengxian in 2004.

Gu later told police he saw the fire break out outside his apartment door and tried to put it out with a water bucket, but as he turned around his apartment also caught on fire, trapping his wife who was inside.

The fire was later extinguished by firefighters with no casualties.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.