Former Site of the Guangzhou Fire Department

Former Site of the Guangzhou Fire Department

The former site of the Guangzhou Fire Department is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangzhou.

The former site of the Guangzhou Fire Department is located at No. 47 Wenming Road, Yuexiu District. Built in the 1920s, it is one of the symbols of Guangzhou’s modernization.

In the early 20th century, due to the dense concentration of buildings in Guangzhou and weak fire prevention awareness among residents, fires occurred frequently. The municipal government set up a department under its authority—on Wenming Road, they erected a bamboo building and also built a lookout tower over 10 meters high, from which the fire situation across Guangzhou could be monitored. In 1924, the authorities decided to establish a general fire department. Chen Moxiang, the head of the Guangzhou Fire Department who had returned from studying in Britain, decided to build a new fire department building modeled after contemporary British fire stations. The building was designed by American architect Pajie and was a two-story Western-style structure. Due to insufficient funding, the project was delayed for four years and was not completed until 1927. The fire department's lookout tower stood 29.52 meters tall and was once one of the tallest buildings in Guangzhou, offering a clear panoramic view of the city. When lookouts in the high tower spotted a fire, they would ring a bell to sound the alarm and communicate the location of the fire to people below through bamboo tubes. Experienced lookouts could precisely identify the narrow alleys where fires broke out and were hailed as “living radar.” At that time, various advanced firefighting equipment was imported from abroad, but unfortunately, most of the fire engines were destroyed during wartime, and the only fireboat, the Jinghua, was bombed and damaged during the Japanese occupation of Guangzhou. After the liberation, the site continued to serve as a station for public security firefighters.

In July 2002, it was designated as part of the sixth batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Guangzhou by the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Guangzhou