The Buddhist Monk & The Fire Fighter

First China gave us the Kung Fu fighting monks from the Shaolin Temple, now we have a new type of monk. The fire fighting monk of the Buddhist Temple. In China Buddhist monks have been undergoing fire safety and fighting training so as to enable them to tackle blazes and other fire related emergencies that may arise within their temples.





The risk of fire in these ancient temples is high due to several reasons such as their wooden construction, the regular burning of incense and the fact that many of the buildings are very old and were not designed with fire safety in mind. If a fire was to start in one of these buildings it could spread rapidly and seriously cause risk of death to anyone resident in the building.





Initially eleven temples have been targeted for training with around sixty of the monks being given training in the use of fire fighting techniques with things such as extinguishers and fire blankets. Recently the monks got the chance to display their skills at a fire fighting competition in Hangzhou which was held at one of the temples. They demonstrated their expertise in using hoses, Fire Extinguishers and other modern fire fighting equipment.





The city of Hangzhou is a very beautiful area and a cultural home of Buddhism which has a great number of temples as well as wooden pagodas. These all are at risk of fire.





A Buddhist Master from Faxi Temple informed the press that the monks have undergone a month long intensive fire safety training regime and that the efforts are definitely worth it. He was quoted as saying, "The safety of our temple is worth the efforts."





During the recent competition the monks were seen to rush to the scene of a fire and operated their extinguishers, tackling the blaze and putting it out quickly and safely. The audience who had also come to burn incense and pray applauded loudly at the display by the fire fighting monks. The use of Fire Alarm Panels was also taught.





The monks are working closely with the local fire brigade in China to continue their training and have become expert part time fire fighters. It doesn’t matter what walk of life you are in, fire safety and knowing how to use equipment such as fire extinguishers is vital.