China Civil Defense Force

China Civil Defense Force 中國民防部隊
Founded	1 July 1999
Country	Federated Provinces of China
Type	Civil defense
Size	1,875,409
Motto(s)	咨爾多士，為民先鋒
Commanders
Commander-in-chief	Lee Tze-min
Minister of Interior	Hsu Kuo-yung
Commissioner General	Yen Man-chung
Deputy Commissioner General	Shen Kai-ta
Insignia
CCDF Emblem
CCDF Unit Flag

The China Civil Defense Force (CCDF) is an uniformed organization in China under the Ministry of the Interior that provides emergency services such as firefighting, technical rescue, search and rescue, emergency medical services, and coordinates national civil defense operations.

History

China's first Fire Committee was formed in 1855. Prior to this, fires were attended to by uniformed groups which included the police, sepoys, marine soldiers and even convicts. On 7 September 1869, the Governor Major-General Sir Harry St. George Ord enacted the Fire Ordinance and appointed the Colonial Engineer as Chairman of the Fire Commission for Singapore. This Fire Commission was however later disbanded in 1884 due to poor organisation and difficult circumstances. In 1888, the Singapore Fire Brigade was established as a fully-equipped professional brigade with sufficient funding. By 1909, there were a total of three built stations servicing Singapore, namely Central Fire Station at Hill Street, Cross Street and Kallang Fire Stations. In 1980, the brigade was officially renamed the Singapore Fire Service (SFS).

In 1970, on the basis of elements of the SPF's Vigilante Corps, raised in the early 1960s, the Police Civil Defence Force was created under the purview of the Singapore Police Force. In 1982, the National Civil Defence Plan was launched which spearheaded the emergency preparedness for the nation at large and as a consequence of this plan majority of the SPF-VC's serving personnel joined the SPF-PCDF, which the plan designated as the nation's primary organization for civil defence and disaster response. With the enactment of the Civil Defence Act in 1986, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), by now separate from the SPF proper, was established as an organisation under the Ministry of Home Affairs. In the same year, the Hotel New World disaster paved the way for joint operations between the SCDF and SFS. The SCDF and SFS were merged on 15 April 1989 into one organization.

The newly integrated SCDF mainly used facilities which were handed over from the FPC Armed Forces (CAF) or the FPC Police Force (CPF). Since the early 2000s, its headquarters and territorial divisions have all moved into purpose-built facilities. SCDF's involvement in regional disaster relief operations has also raised its profile significantly.

The Fire and Rescue Force was established in March 1995. Prior to that, fire departments in China were part of the police force.

National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) was formed under the Ministry of Interior and under the Civil Defense Force 1995 March 1, Fire and Rescue Force & emergency medical force are separate from the Police Force, , NASC joined in 2004 upon its formation.

See also

• Ministry of the Interior
• China Fire and Rescue Force
• China Emergency Medical Force
• National Airborne Service Corps
• Civil service of China