BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese firefighters rescued 14,857 people stranded by various disasters and evacuated 43,899 others in August, according to the fire-fighting department of the Ministry of Emergency Management.
The department said firefighters across the country also managed to save assets worth nearly 2.5 billion yuan (about 361 million U.S. dollars) in the same month.
Authorities said 14,200 fire incidents were reported in August, in which 90 people were killed and 57 others injured. The death toll was up by 57.9 percent compared with the same period in 2017.
August also witnessed the country's most deadly fire incident in the past three years, with 20 people killed and 23 injured after a blaze broke out on Aug. 25 at a hotel in Harbin, the capital city of northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
Fires in August also caused 125 million yuan worth of damage.
As China is set to celebrate the upcoming traditional Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays, the fire department pledged to intensify inspections to prevent fire-related incidents.
