State Councilor Wang Yong urged an accelerated pace in building the national emergency management system and vigorous efforts to strengthen firefighting and rescue capacity building, to lead China’s emergency rescue work to new heights.

Wang stressed these requirements during an inspection of the progress in building the China National Comprehensive Fire and Rescue Team recently in Shaoxing, East China’s Zhejiang province. During the inspection, he also watched a team fire drill competition.

He commended the team on successfully handling a series of major catastrophic disasters and accidents over the past year, yet still emphasizing the need to deepen its reform and transformation, and speed up creating a complete, scientific and efficient emergency rescue system.

Efforts should be made to shift from being capable of addressing “single type of disasters” to standing ready to tackle “various types of disasters”, Wang said, especially in emergencies, to fully leverage the new advantages of the emergency rescue mechanism.

Additional measures are essential to enhance the team’s basic capabilities, and optimize support systems and preferential policies, enabling it to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property, he added.