Thousands of people swimming on the Sun Moon Lake International ferry sparked controversy: Firefighters were forced to suspend support, which constituted institutional exploitation

◎ Yang Zhiqiang

More than 20,000 people took to the water at Sun Moon Lake International, and thousands of people swam across the water, and the scenery came to an end. This index activity, which collects registration fees every year and publicizes the benefits of tourism, is actually based on an administrative order from the Nantou County government, forcing grassroots firefighters who are already short of manpower to "take a break" and stationed on the lake to act as lifeguards. Not long ago, a young firefighter died in Nantou during a search and rescue operation in the water. The pain of death in the line of duty is still lingering in our ears, but the county government has turned around and continued to treat the police and firefighters as free human cash machines, ignoring the capabilities of professional disaster relief.

More than 20,000 people took to the water to swim on the Sun Moon Lake International ferry. The scene came to an end, but it triggered controversy over the suspension of firefighters' support. (File photo)

There is a registration fee for organizing the event, and all the budget should be absorbed by the organizer itself. Drawing lessons from the rules of foreign open water events, the organizer must propose a complete safety plan, hire a qualified private life-saving team on its own, and pass strict review. Public police and firefighters are only on standby outside the venue to deal with major emergencies. The Nantou County Government is both an activity guidance unit and a firefighting authority, but it has been neglecting the distinction between public and private activities for many years. It has used taxpayers' resources and firefighters' legal rest time to save costs for activities with mature commercial cash flows, resulting in systemic exploitation.

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The county government and the fire department argued that "compensatory leave is provided" and "the number of people supporting has been reduced compared to previous years." A more serious problem is that the dozens of manpower deployed to guard the lake were originally supposed to stay in various township teams on standby for disaster relief. When the manpower at the grassroots level is hollowed out, if Nantou County residents encounter fires, emergencies, or serious car accidents on the day of the event, the attendance capacity may be skyrocketed at any time. What’s the point of using the daily disaster prevention and relief efforts of the entire county to support the safety of a commercial activity?

A young firefighter in Nantou died on duty during a search and rescue operation in the water, but the county government turned around and continued to treat the police and firefighters as free human cash machines. The picture shows Nantou County firefighters braving the strong water and going up the river to search and rescue people rafting. (Provided by Nantou County Fire Department)

Local elections are coming soon, and one of the questions that will test the governance capabilities of local leaders is how to treat grassroots police officers. If the county government team cannot even protect firefighters who have experienced life and death, and even arbitrarily suspend operations in order to save money for activities, how can the public believe that they have the ability to defend the place when disaster strikes? This is not only a labor rights issue, but also a governance failure. Grassroots firefighters are not universal walk-ins who can be on call for every activity.

The security costs of large-scale fee-charging events must not continue to be passed on to the hard work of grassroots police and the public security risks of all county residents. The Nantou County government must immediately establish a "self-responsibility for activity safety" system and strictly prohibit the use of administrative orders to force firefighters to take a break from vigilance. Return the right to work to the grassroots and leave the disaster relief capacity to county residents. Don’t let the international events that Taiwan is proud of become a world shame that squeezes the firefighting profession.

(The author is an NGO worker)