An Overview of Fire Prevention and Control and Emergency Management

Policy in Rural China

Xinyu Zhou

School of Public Administration, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China

Keywords: Rural Fire, Emergency Management, Policy Study.

Abstract: In recent years, fire safety has been an important part of the construction of rural public safety system in China

and higher requirements have been put forward for rural emergency management ability, rural fire emergency

management has gradually become an important part of public safety management system. This study selects

15 literatures from various aspects, summarizing the development of rural fire emergency management

policies in China during the recent years, and the basic content and development trend of the policy are

summarized. By analyzing existing research, this study discusses the main problems in rural fire emergency

management, such as insufficient supervision and lack of fire resources, and find out the shortcomings in the

current research for the purpose of improving the theoretical research content in this field and the effectiveness

of policy implementation in the process of rural fire emergency management.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's social

and economic development has been rapid, the

process of urbanization has been accelerated, and the

gap between urban and rural development has

gradually narrowed. However, the vast rural areas

still face the problem of weak infrastructure and

insufficient public safety guarantee. China has

vigorously promoted the rural revitalization strategy

in recent years and has put forward the construction

of a "livable, viable and beautiful countryside" to

maintain social harmony and stability in rural areas

(CPC Central Committee and State Council, 2018).

At the same time, China is at a critical stage of

modernizing its emergency management system,

report to the 20th National Congress of the

Communist Party of China also called for

"modernizing national security systems and

capabilities" and strengthening the building of

national and regional emergency response forces. The

Fire and Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Emergency

Management of China deployed to strengthen rural

fire work and help win the battle against poverty (Xi,

2022). Under such circumstances, the construction of

rural public security system has become a key task, of

which fire safety as an important part is directly

related to the safety of farmers' lives and property.

Higher requirements are put forward for rural

emergency management ability, and rural fire

emergency management has gradually become an

important part of public safety governance system.

In the process of constructing the management

pattern of "total disaster species and great emergency

response" in recent years, the government has issued

a series of policy documents to strengthen the

management of fire safety in rural areas. "The 14th

Five-Year Plan" national fire control work plan

proposed to ameliorate rural fire conditions, promote

the construction of rural fire control system,

strengthen fire prevention transformation, and reduce

fire risk (Work Safety Committee of the State

Council, 2022). Comprehensive Rural Revitalization

Plan (2024-2027) emphasized enhancing the

coordination mechanism and organizational system

of emergency management at township and village

levels, polishing the system of persons responsible for

fire prevention, and strengthening emergency rescue

capacity building (CPC Central Committee and State

Council, 2024).

However, rural areas are affected by economic,

social and institutional factors. The fire prevention

and control system is still not perfect, the fire safety

depression is increasingly prominent, and the fire

protection force is particularly weak, resulting in

frequent fire accidents and threatening the safety of

people's lives and property. According to data from

Zhou, X.

An Overview of Fire Prevention and Control and Emergency Management Policy in Rural China.

DOI: 10.5220/0014373000004859

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Politics, Law, and Social Science (ICPLSS 2025), pages 263-268

ISBN: 978-989-758-785-6

263

the 2024 National Fire and Rescue Service press

conference, there were 534,000 fires in rural areas in

2024, accounting for 58.8% of the country's total

fires, which was a larger proportion than other areas

such as urban areas, development zones and tourist

areas (CCTV news client, 2025). Therefore,

promoting the evolution of rural fire emergency

management capacity and ensuring the effective

implementation of policies is not only an inherent

requirement of the modernization of national

governance, but also an important part of ensuring

sustainable rural development and improving rural

grass-roots governance capacity.

This study summarizes the development of

China's rural fire emergency management policy in

recent years, and summarizes the basic content and

development trend of the policy by using the policy

text analysis method. On this basis, this paper

analyzes the existing research results, discusses about

the main problems of rural fire emergency

management, such as insufficient supervision and

lack of fire resources. Finally, the shortcomings of the

current research are identified, and the theoretical

research content in this field are optimized to advance

the effectiveness of rural fire policy implementation.

By combing and analyzing relevant policy papers

on rural fire protection and emergency management,

this study aims to assess the effectiveness of existing

policies, provide a scientific basis for future policy

formulation and implementation, and present

references for the government, fire departments and

relevant decision makers to advance the level of rural

fire safety, reduce fire risk and promote the

furtherance of rural public safety system.

2 RESEARCH APPROACHES

AND PROCESS

In the process of literature retrieval, this study adopts

a systematic search strategy to ensure the authority

and relevance of the selected literature. First, the

author researched domestic academic databases such

as CNKI and Wanfang and international databases

such as Elsevier (Science Direct) and Web of Science.

The author mainly focuses on core journals and

CSSCI (Chinese Social Science Citation Index)

source journals and sets a series of keywords for

searching in order to ensure the professionalism of the

literature. In the literature search, the keywords used

by the author include "rural fire", "emergency

management", "grass-roots fire control policy", "rural

disaster prevention and reduction" "fire safety policy"

and so on.

In order to ensure the scientific and feasibility of

literature research, the author preferentially selects

literatures containing empirical data and case

investigations, and gives priority to articles published

in major CSSCI journals or source journals. Articles

that are not directly related to the research topic (such

as studying fire policy in urban areas or emergency

management in general), articles that introduce

policies without in-depth analysis, and articles with

outdated research data are excluded.

After screening, this paper finally selected 15

high-quality literatures as the basis of this research,

which involved various aspects of policy text

analysis, rural fire protection system implementation,

and local fire protection status at the grass-roots level,

providing perfect theoretical support and

comprehensive data support for this research (see

Table 1).

Table 1: References and Literature Sources.

Literature

sources

Title Author

Chinese core

journal of PKU

Comprehensive understanding of the fragmentation

characteristics, driving mechanisms and governance paths of

rural emer

enc

mana

emen

Wu Qiong,

Wu Jin, Kong

Fen

2024

Failure” of Formal System under Conflagration——Case

Stud

of Ethnic Villa

es in Southeast Guizhou

Wu Dahua, Guo

Jin

2013

Rural emergency response capability assessment: an

empirical study based on Jiangsu Province

Zhang Haibo 2015

The Construction of Disaster Prevention and Reduction

Ability in Rural China Urgently Needs to Strengthen the

Bottom Desi

Xu Yuanshan 2015

Analysis of fire disasters and fire safety management in rural

areas

Li Jingming 2014

ICPLSS 2025 - International Conference on Politics, Law, and Social Science

264

Construction of fire safety management in the process of

urbanization

Zhang

Min

can

2016

SCI/EI

Examining China's rural fire protection within the rural

revitalization strate

: An in-depth polic

research

Li Yang, Du

Xiaoron

2024

Non-core

journal papers

The Changes and Logical Explanation of the Attention of

Emergency Management Policies in Rural China——

Anal

sis of Central Polic

Text from 2005 to 2023

Zhang Haiqi,

Yuan Jinhui

2023

Mode construction and system design of rural emergency

mana

ement under the back

round of rural revitalization

Wen Zhiqiang,

Cui Yulin

2019

Research on the accuracy of policy understanding in the

improvement of

rass-roots emer

enc

mana

ement abilit

Zhang Yongli,

Liu Xin

2024

Research on policy optimization strategy of rural emergency

mana

ement in China

Fu Jinghua 2021

Promote grid management and services to enhance the

emer

enc

mana

ement capacit

of rural communities

Wu Wei 2020

A brief talk on the present situation of rural fire and fire

revention countermeasures

Bu Hongbo 2016

Conference

papers

Investigation and Analysis of Electrical Circuits Fire

Potential in Southwest Countr

side of China

Wang Wenbo 2016

Research and Countermeasures of Fire Protection in

Southwest Rural Areas

Peng Kaiwen,

Chu Liwei, Li

Jie

2016

3 RESEARCH STATUS AND

RESULTS

Existing studies generally believe that the causes of

rural fires are complex, involving both physical

factors such as building layout, electricity safety and

insufficient firefighting facilities, as well as social

factors such as poor policy implementation and weak

fire awareness. In this area, Li et al. (2024) based on

an analysis of rural fire data from several provinces

across the country summarized the main causes of

rural fire and put forward eight policy

recommendations based on foreign experience.

However, Li et al.'s research focused on the

development of policy frameworks, the actual

implementation of these policies at the local level in

rural areas and the challenges they may face are not

explored in depth.

Based on the analysis of 36 central policy texts

from 2005 to 2023, Zhang Haiqi and Yuan Jinhui

(2023) studied the evolution of rural emergency

management policies and put forward the

improvement of rural emergency management

policies and strategies from three aspects. Wu Qiong

et al. (2024) comprehensively analyzed the

diversified manifestations and driving factors of

fragmentation in rural emergency management,

which was committed to solving the problem of

fragmentation in rural emergency management and

improving the overall governance efficiency of

emergency management. Wen Zhiqiang and Cui

Yuling (2019) stressed the importance of emergency

management model construction, put forward the

innovative measures of the dynamic operation

mechanism construction of rural emergency

management and the linkage mode of organization

personnel. The research of these scholars was

combined with new policies and time backgrounds,

seeking the innovation of rural emergency

management mode and strategy, which were of

enlightening significance for the follow-up research.

Some researchers have taken a critical look at rural

fire protection systems and their effectiveness. Wu

Dahua and Guo Jing (2013) believed that the current

rural fire protection system as a formal system has

been widely promoted at the policy level, but it did

not play its due effectiveness in practice. In their

study of ethnic villages in the Qiandongnan region of

Guizhou province, the research team pointed out that

the failure of the formal fire protection system is very

obvious in rural areas. On the contrary, the local fire

control system with national characteristics (such as

village rules and clan constraints) is more effective in

some cases. This view called into question

mainstream policy research on firefighting in rural

areas and highlighted the contradiction and mismatch

between the operational logic of grassroots society

and public policy. Nevertheless, the limitation of the

study was that its conclusions were mainly based on

An Overview of Fire Prevention and Control and Emergency Management Policy in Rural China

265

case studies of a single region and ethnic group and it

was not able to prove the universality of the

phenomenon.

Zhang Haibo (2015)'s empirical research based on

Jiangsu Province emphasized that although the rural

emergency management ability and villagers' self-

rescue and mutual rescue level have been advanced in

the short term, the progress of disaster prevention and

reduction level still needs long-term investment under

the policy suggestions. Zhang Yongli and Liu Xingsi

(2024) discussed the specific implementation of local

emergency management policies from the

perspective of institutional change and pointed out

that the differences in policy implementation are

mainly due to the poor understanding of policy texts

by local governments. The mismatch between the

policy implementation process and the rural social

environment results in poor policy implementation in

the process of rural emergency management. The

complexity of policy implementation often leads to

different understandings of policy implementation by

stakeholders, which results in poor execution.

Nonetheless, the study did not provide a detailed

analysis of specific differences in policy

implementation failures between rural and urban

areas, which may limit the applicability of the

findings to some extent. Fu Jinhua (2021)'s research

analyzed the optimization path of rural emergency

management policy from the perspective of "one plan

and three systems". It is proposed to be closely

integrated with the rural revitalization strategy,

strengthen institutional "top-level design" with a

focus on prevention and mitigation to improve policy

implementation mechanisms. In addition to this, Xu

Yuanshan (2015) believed that China urgently needs

to promote the "bottom-level design" of rural

emergency management to refine the disaster

prevention and mitigation capacity of rural

communities. Although both studies put forward

ideas for rural emergency management from the

perspective of the policy framework, they ignored the

realistic dilemma at the level of policy

implementation as well.

Different from the institutional analysis of Zhang

Yongli and Fu Jinhua, Wu Wei (2020)'s research

focuses on governance optimization at the practical

level, which believes that the network governance

model can effectively heighten the ability of rural

communities to manage emergencies. The

importance of grass-roots staff and villagers

participating in fire management is emphasized as

well. However, the study mainly analyzed the role of

network management from a theoretical perspective;

the implementation of specific policies was not

analyzed and the realistic difficulties in policy

implementation did not been fully explored and

followed up. By contrast, Wang Wenbo (2016)'s

research focused on electrical fires in rural areas of

southwest China, which emphasized the high

incidence of fire caused by backward circuit, private

wiring and excessive power load. Recommendations

were made to ameliorate local fire prevention,

suppression and rescue efforts as well. However, the

study was limited to the southwest, which leads to a

lack of national or regional comparative analysis of

this research question and limits the generality of the

findings to some extent. Similar to Wang's study,

Peng et al. (2016) also focused on fire safety in rural

areas of southwest China. But still, the research

emphasized the optimization of fire safety

management systems and concrete solutions such as

grid management and increasing financial support is

proposed. Nevertheless, the scope of the data

collected by the institute was limited, only six villages

in three provinces were involved, and a total of 76

questionnaires were collected. As a result, the

representativeness and credibility of the research

conclusions need to be verified. On top of that, the

present situation of fire safety and the difficulties of

fire prevention and control in rural areas of Guizhou

and Guangdong were analyzed from a professional

perspective by Bu Hongbo (2016) and Li Jingming

(2014) as the grass-roots fire team staff. Zhang

Mingcan (2016) also took grass-roots practice as the

starting point and put forward the contradiction

between urban-rural integration and the shortage of

rural fire resources. Nonetheless, their research also

lacked guidance and advanced measures at the policy

level.

4 DISCUSSION

Existing research has made important contributions to

fire emergency management policies in rural areas.

Some studies revealed the main causes, existing

characteristics and structural problems behind rural

fires through empirical investigation and data

analysis. Some of the research focused on the level of

policy, systematically combed the development vein

of China's rural fire protection policy, summarized

the main measures of the governments' rural fire

protection policy in recent years, and analyzed the

main contents of the policy, the effect of

implementation and the difference of implementation

at the local level. Besides, some studies draw on

foreign rural fire management systems and

experience, and some suggestions and measures, such

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as strengthening the construction of rural volunteer

firefighting teams and introducing intelligent

firefighting equipment, are put forward, which can be

applied to rural fire emergency management in China.

Although the existing research provides valuable

theoretical support and empirical data for rural fire

emergency management policies, there are still some

limitations. Existing research focuses on policy

design and formulation, but little attention is paid to

the practical difficulties encountered in the

implementation of policies at the local level, and there

is also a lack of examination of the actual

implementation of policies. The feasibility and

practical applicability of its policies have yet to be

demonstrated. Most studies tend to focus on specific

geographic areas, which leads to a lack of

comparative analysis between regions on a national

scale and the generalizability and generalization of

the research results are limited. In addition, most of

the existing studies are based on qualitative analysis

and lack systematic quantitative evaluation. Although

quantitative research methods such as questionnaire

surveys are used in individual studies, the

questionnaire data are too few and lack data support

and in-depth research, which makes it difficult to

prove the validity of their findings. Consequently,

future research should adopt both quantitative and

qualitative methods, measuring and evaluating the

effect of rural fire emergency management policy

systematically and scientifically to enhance the

persuasive power of the research.

5 CONCLUSION

This study combs the rural fire emergency

management policy in China, combines rural fire

emergency management systems in different regions

with case studies, discusses issues related to policy

implementation. In the future research and practice of

rural fire emergency management, researchers can

further expand data sources and combine diverse

empirical studies, pay more attention to the specific

implementation of rural fire prevention and

mitigation, in order to analyze the effectiveness of fire

emergency management policies in rural areas in

more detail and ensure that policies and measures to

improve fire safety in rural areas are effective in

practice.

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