In the five-story firehouse with high iron gates painted bright red, things are the same they have been for the three years Captain Zhu Xiaolei has been posted there.

His favorite firefighting books on his office desk, his dining ware at the canteen, his neatly made-up bed in the dormitory.

But firefighter Zhu will not be coming back - he died fighting the giant blaze which engulfed a 12-story wholesale mall and a 20-floor hotel in downtown Urumqi on Wednesday. The cause of death was severe and toxic smoke inhalation.

Since Friday, family, friends and colleagues have gathered to pay tributes to the courageous man who died at 25. The funeral will be held at 11 am today.

They remember him in different ways: A dedicated professional, a disciplined individual, a caring but tough supervisor, a filial son, a loving brother and a swimming talent.

But they all mourn the death of a hero whose life was tragically cut short in the course of duty.

"He was aware of the danger of the job. But he was always the first to dash to a fire," said Jiang Shaojie, Zhu's colleague and roommate for more than two years. "He loved being on the site, putting out fires and saving lives."

It was not the first time Zhu had a brush with death. As part of an elite taskforce seconded from the armed police, he was usually sent to fight dangerous fires.

Last year, a natural gas cylinder was burnt nearly transparent red in an apartment building.

Outside the kitchen, Zhu, who was the deputy chief of the No. 1 firehouse in Urumqi, and his squad member, looked at each other, walked in, and carried the container out.

He later recalled the moment as "very scary" but "he didn't have time to think about anything else".

On Wednesday, Zhu and two squad members - Zhang Yu, 27, and Gao Feng, 24 - saved three people from Dehui Plaza and were searching for anyone else trapped when they perished.

It is the deadliest loss suffered by the fire department in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Prior to that, two firefighters died on duty.

"We lost our brothers," said Jiang. 30. "I still cannot believe they are gone."

"We sent our best firefighters in because it was the most deadly fire I've ever faced in my career," said the 12-year veteran from Wusu city of Xinjiang.

The worst fire in Xinjiang's recent history was on December 8, 1994, when a concert hall in Karamay caught fire, killing 323 people, mostly school children.

Wednesday's blaze began in a 12-story wholesale and office building and spread to an adjacent 20-story hotel. Two civilians were confirmed dead by police.

The fire started on the first floor of the market building at 8:20 pm and was reported by a security guard. Firemen arrived in 15 minutes.

Having spent his only day off at his parent's home in Urumqi after 20 consecutive days of work, Zhu didn't wait a second to rush to the fire site.

As they approached the blaze, he called Jiang, who was on the way: "It's big."

The severity of the fire was clear from far with the 12-story building enveloped by the plumes of black smoke and swirling columns of flames, Jiang recalled.

They were quickly divided into different squads and went into the buildings filled with dense smoke. Each section had two squads taking turns to search every half hour.

"You couldn't see you own hands," said Wang Li, an 11-year veteran who was alternating with Zhu. "We searched with our hands and crawled on the floor."

The flames shot up quickly. "By the time we put it out on the fourth floor, it reached the sixth floor," Wang said. "It was so fast that we were not able to catch up with it."

The search was also hampered by the cold weather outside, where temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero at night. Frozen water couldn't be pumped out of the hydrants; and firemen slipped on the ice while holding the hose.

"When we were standing outside, water dripping from the hose got our clothes wet, and froze immediately. Every half hour, we went into the building, and the heat almost baked us into cookies."

The last time he saw Zhu and his squad members alive was around 11 pm. Zhu's squad was to go up to the sixth floor for the second time.

Wang patted them on the shoulder and told them to watch out for themselves.

"Pull back when it is dangerous," Wang warned.

Zhu said: "Got it."

Police later confirmed the team lost each other on the sixth floor, where the passage was blocked by smoke and flames.

"He must have tried to ask for help. But he was not able to speak in the heavy smoke."

At midnight, Zhu and Zhang Yu were carried out, and died in the hospital. Gao was not found dead until 2 am on Thursday.

Wang recalled their last moment: "Their faces and lips were covered with soot. I cleaned them, gave them artificial respiration and called out their names. But everything was too late."

The air was highly toxic as much of the merchandise was burning. Dehui Plaza housed more than 2,000 booths selling clothes, cosmetics, toys and other products from the basement up to the fourth floor. "The poisoned air would kill a person in 90 seconds," Wang said.

It took 27 hours, 84 fire trucks and 435 firemen to exterminate the fire.

(China Daily January 7, 2008)