Department of Sports, Taipei City Government

On January 12, Mayor Chiang Wan-an attended the Firefighter’s Day Celebration and Golden Dragon Award Presentation Ceremony. 

During his address, the mayor said that he is honored to have this opportunity to celebrate the 119 Firefighter’s Day with the staff and volunteers of the city’s firefighting force and recognize outstanding individuals. He thanked the firefighters, local borough chiefs, and personnel working in this domain for making Taipei City safer through their efforts. 

Chiang pointed out that the Golden Dragon Award is the highest honor for Taipei City’s firefighters. This year, a total of 27 individuals were selected from a pool of over 3,000 firefighters to receive this award. He lauded firefighters as heroes of the city. Regardless of gender, duty, and time, they place the safety of citizens above all else. To this end, they invest countless hours and effort, as well as take high risk to bring out those trapped at sites of disasters. 

The mayor remarked that in an effort to rescue more victims in the shortest time possible, the Golden Phoenix Emergency Medical Rescue Service Team was formed in 1999. As of today, team members have successfully resuscitated over 1,000 individuals who were on the brink of death. Also, the Fire Department joined hands with agencies in the domains spanning civil affairs to education to public affairs to implement comprehensive disaster prevention courses. As of last year, over 4,800 disaster relief volunteers have completed their training under this program. 

Regarding the promotion of disaster prevention knowhow, the mayor praised the Fire Department and all those involved for the campaign’s success. He cited that over the past 12 years, there were roughly 700 fires which set off alarms, thus allowing people to evacuate within a short period. The staff of the Fire Department has played key roles over the past three years in assisting pandemic prevention efforts and transporting patients.

He ended his speech by wishing everyone at the Fire Department a Happy Chinese New Year and encouraged them to continue helping those who may need their assistance over the holiday period.