State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang on Tuesday called on fire fighters to better safeguard the nation and people's property and contribute in removing disharmonious elements of society.

Zhou, who is also member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met with units and individuals that had scored outstanding achievements in fire fighting.

He expressed his respect to those fire fighters who sacrificed their lives performing their duty and congratulated the award-winning units and individuals.

Zhou encouraged fire fighters to further improve their capability in fire control, effectively prevent and reduce the occurrence of fire accidents and try their best to reduce loss caused by fires, so as to create a favorable environment for building a harmonious society.

China is making efforts to establish fire brigades in every village by 2010. It has been reported that currently, 692 counties and prefectures have inadequate fire brigades.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2006)