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September 14, 2021

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Firefighters star in livestream sessions

Source: Xinhua | 00:05 UTC+8 September 14, 2021 | Print Edition

Though Adiham Mahmti, a firefighter in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, finished his shift, his work was barely done.

Instead of returning to his dormitory to get some rest, he and his colleague Tian Zheng rushed to fetch microphones and a tripod to start livestreaming on the popular short-video platform Douyin, where viewers from across the country were waiting for them.

The session was themed on the firefighters’ daily life, in which the two livestreamers shuttled between the training hall, basketball court and canteen, showing how their colleagues work out, relax during spare time and what food they eat. They also answered viewers’ queries on fire safety.

“We want to popularize fire safety tips and share fragments of our daily lives with netizens. We want to show people what life is like for a firefighter through an insider’s perspective,” said Mahmti, 35.

This livestreaming series, as part of a broader effort to enhance public awareness of fire safety, has garnered over 5.2 million views on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Mahmti and Tian, from the Urumqi Fire and Rescue Detachment, got this unique idea in March. During their emergency fire missions, they noticed that many people lacked fire safety knowledge, and decided to find a solution.

After some research, they found that short videos were popular among Chinese netizens, so they signed up on four social media platforms, including Douyin and Weibo, and started the livestreams.

They simply recorded their routine life at their workplace and explained the differences in the use of varied fire extinguishers. They later edited down the videos to around one minute to achieve an optimal length for social media video post, and uploaded them.

Their videos have struck a positive chord. The subscriber count soon soared and the comment sections of their accounts were inundated with engagement, with viewers seeking more updates and asking questions about fire safety.

They, however, didn’t have much time to respond to each question. So, in late June this year, they decided to try their hand at livestreaming, which would enable them to answer frequently asked questions.

Within three months, their 12 livestreaming sessions racked up over 20 million views.

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