Entrance these days to a residential community in Nanjing can be tough in the wake of the recent COVID outbreak, but an over-zealous compound security guard denying first responders access to a fire burning within is surely taking things a little too far.
During the evening of 23 September, residents reported a fire within the Purun Gardens Residential Community near to the Dinghuai Men Tunnel in Nanjing’s Pukou District. Firefighters were rushed to the scene.
Upon arriving at the compound’s entrance, however, they were blocked from entering by a man surnamed Zhou, who was the senior security guard on duty at the time.
“I’m going to need authorisation from my leaders before I can let you in”, Zhou was allegedly overheard as saying, reports The Paper.
Security guards in China are often former police officers, used to wielding a little power over ordinary people’s lives. Sometimes they are also disgraced, former police officers. Residents are particularly wary of this lot.
The arrival of COVID and China’s reactions thereto, therefore, was to empower security guards more than ever, as the recent events in Pukou show.
And as everyone who lives in a gated community of some sort (which is the overwhelming majority of the Nanjing population) knows, the simple act of returning home comprises the use of some kind of key fob, a temperature check at the gate by those security guards and likely the presentation of a green health code.
For those looking to enter who are not residents, the difficulty is at times insurmountable. People merely wishing to visit friends, or couriers attempting delivery will likely need to complete a form of registration before access is granted, if at all.
As was the case with the Nanjing fire department at the Purun Gardens last week. For his actions, a ¥200 fine was handed down on Zhou, while a further penalty of up to ¥100,000 against the compound’s property management company is under consideration.
