Blazing a trail

"Instead of always eulogizing the firefighter as a great professional in modern society, we want to present a comprehensive image of each individual firefighter in the reality show, hoping that viewers can better understand them," Chi says.

After learning the basic fire control and rescue skills, such as how to put on protective gear and how to use a flat-headed axe to break a door, at training bases in East China's Fujian province, the six celebrities are sent to a fire station in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. The fire station's jurisdiction covers not only the modern Shanghai World Expo Garden, but also blocks of old residential buildings. On average, firefighters at the station have to respond to more than 1,200 emergency calls every year. There, the six novices were offered opportunities to actually go to the site and solve various problems for the nearby communities.

"In the fire station, they also learn how to carry out a rescue in high-rise buildings and participate in fire drills jointly conducted by several fire stations," adds Chi.