Scott No: 1776-1777
Serial number: T76
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: May 8, 1982
Denomination: 16 fen
Designer: Chen Xiaocun
Size of stamps: 30*40mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50 (10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T76 "Fire Protection" special stamps were issued on May 8, 1982. The set consists of 2 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Chen Xiaocong, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory.

Theme of the Set

In the early period of reform and opening up, urban and rural construction accelerated, and fire hazards increased. This set closely follows the fire protection policy of "prevention first, combining prevention and firefighting," popularizes common knowledge of fire prevention and firefighting among the public, and promotes the important significance of fire protection work in protecting people's lives and property and safeguarding the achievements of production and construction. It is New China's first special stamp set on the theme of fire protection.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Fighting Fire with Water

With a blue background, the main subject is a fire lookout tower, with open flames in the middle of the tower and three coils of fire hose forming a ring, spraying water toward the source of the fire. Below the design is a water tanker fire truck. The lookout tower is a facility for fire monitoring and early warning, representing the traditional method of fighting fire with water and embodying the fire prevention concept of early detection and early handling.

Chemical Firefighting

With a light green background, the main subject is a red portable fire extinguisher, whose nozzle sprays extinguishing agent to suppress the dancing flames around it. The fire extinguisher represents modern chemical firefighting technology and forms a contrast with traditional water firefighting, embodying the progress of firefighting equipment and firefighting technology.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts the decorative style of publicity posters, with concise and generalized forms and sharp color contrasts, intuitive and easy to understand. One stamp shows early warning and water firefighting, the other shows chemical extinguishing agent fighting a fire—one prevention and one rescue, complementing each other. The design does not pursue complicated realism, making it easy for the public to understand the connotation of fire protection science popularization. It is a highly representative special stamp on the theme of safety science popularization of the 1980s.