Brave 11-year-old boy puts out forest fire on his own

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Kong Ziyue, a brave 11-year-old boy, put out a forest fire on his own when he was spending Spring Festival holiday at home in a village in Henan Province last Friday.

Kong was hanging out with his friend Xia Shangzhou and Xia’s sister when they saw black smoke rising from the forest outside the village.

They discovered flames when they arrived. As there were many dry leaves and weeds on the ground, the fire began to spread.

“You look after your sister, let me put out the fire, or all of the poplar trees will be damaged,” Kong told Xia, grabbing a rag on the ground and starting to put out the fire.

Kong spent about 30 minutes putting out the fire on his own.

Blisters on Kong's palm from his burns /Photo via Weibo

“Kong fell over accidentally and even burnt the palm on his right hand,” said Xia. “If I wasn’t looking after my sister, I would have definitely helped him put out the fire.”

In order to record Kong’s bravery, Xia filmed him putting out the fire with his smartphone.

Kong's friend Xia filmed the process of Kong putting out the fire. /Photo via Weibo

Kong didn’t tell his family about his brave actions.

But Kong’s father finally discovered it when he noticed the blisters on his palm.

“He didn’t plan to tell us in case we worried about him, but he was in too much pain. We took him to the clinic as soon as we could,” said Kong’s father.

Kong’s father was proud of his son’s bravery but he also reminded his son to call 119 – the number for the fire service in China – first if he discovered any fire.

Kong is praised by local government and school. /Dahe News Photo

Kong explained the reason why he decided to put out the fire on his own: “I thought I could handle the fire since it wasn’t that big. If I called the firefighters or other adults for help, I was afraid that most of the trees would be burnt down before they arrived.”

Kong’s brave action won praise from the local government and school.

However, an expert in fire control believes that Kong’s actions shouldn’t be encouraged.

“It was pretty moving that the young kid had the courage to put out a fire, since some adults won’t do it. Kong’s brave actions should be praised by the local government but should not be encouraged, because it was too dangerous for young kids to put out fires and they might get hurt when doing it,” said the expert.