Whenever I have the opportunity to travel abroad, I try to learn as much as I can from our firefighter counterparts in the areas that I visit.
In 2007, my wife, Diana, and I met Chief Russell Tarver and his wife at the Fire Chief of the Year Awards dinner in Atlanta hosted by FIRE CHIEF. Tarver, who was nominated by the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Federal and Military Section, won the award for his efforts in protecting more than 45,000 military personnel and their families in 29 locations throughout Japan.
His work force is a mix of U.S. and Japanese citizens who protect industrial complexes, fuel storage areas, American housing and Department of Defense schools, as well as active naval airfields and one of the Navy's largest overseas ports. Prevention is the hallmark of his department, which makes approximately 1,800 emergency responses but also conducts more than 8,500 inspections annually. Little did we know as we sat across from him at dinner that within a year, one of those families his department protects would be that of our oldest son, Dale, a Navy commander serving aboard the USS Blue Ridge at his home port of Yokosuka, Japan.
This past Christmas, Diana and I had the opportunity to visit with our son, daughter-in-law and three of our grandchildren in Yokosuka. During our visit we also traveled to both Yokohama and Tokyo, which brought the opportunity to learn and observe some of the traditions of the Japanese Fire Service. At Yokosuka, the family lives on the sixth floor of a 9-story, 68-unit, fully sprinklered apartment building, one of more than a dozen such buildings on base. Most of the base housing has been built in the past 15 years and also consists of single-family and duplex units that also are sprinklered.
The high rises also have a central alarm system that includes an intercom on each floor that occupants and firefighters can use to talk with the emergency communications center. To provide a second means of egress, the apartments have a pass-through door, usually from the master bedroom to an enclosed emergency stairwell. One-way locks that only can be accessed from inside the apartment limit entry to the stairwell.
On the Navy base, responding fire equipment and personnel may be Japanese, American or both. Crews have at least one bilingual member who wears a blue helmet. Residents are aware that if they have pertinent information about the emergency, they need to look for the firefighter with the blue helmet.
Just as important as fire prevention on the base and in Japan proper is public education on earthquakes. Japan feels the effects of approximately 1,000 earthquakes annually. While most earthquakes don't produce structural damage, such as the 4.9- and 5.3-magnitude quakes we experienced during our visit, the Tokyo-to-Yokohama metropolitan area — which includes Yokosuka — has experienced several of the worst earthquakes recorded in the 20th century. In fact, while the root of Tokyo's modern fire department can be traced to the late 19th century, the real modernization began after the 8.3-magnitude Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Along with the earthquake came a fire, landslide and tsunami. The unprecedented firestorm only was equaled by the intense incendiary bombing on Tokyo that occurred during World War II. The result of these four simultaneous disasters killed 140,000 people, left 1.9 million homeless, and destroyed 381,000 of the estimated homes.
Before the area could recover, Tokyo suffered a second devastating, 7.6-magnitude earthquake in March 1927. The Tango Earthquake resulted in more than 3,000 deaths, but also resulted in several catastrophic fires that placed earthquake response directly into the hands of the Japanese Fire Service.
By 1930, the Japanese Fire Service had realized that fire prevention through public education was a key in not only curbing the fires that ravaged through the nation's densely populated cities, it also was the way to teach about earthquake preparedness. Even today, some sections of Tokyo and Yokohama have more than 28,000 residents per square kilometer, or roughly 73,000 residents per square mile. Following the fledgling Fire Prevention Week in the United States, Tokyo began its own fire-prevention programs in 1930. Each Jan. 6, Tokyo's Fire Department hosts the “Dezome-shiki,” literally the New Year's Parade of Firemen. It is a spectacular event with more than 100 fire engines and ladders, fire helicopters, and specialty equipment on display.
The Parade of Fireman offers dozens of display areas and some hands-on learning, especially for younger children. There they can learn about the major causes of fires, as well how to call for fire or EMS using the national “119” emergency number. More importantly, though, they learn or are reminded of how densely populated are their major cities, and how vulnerable their homes are to the mistakes of others. In addition, they are taught the basics of self-help: first aid, fire extinguishers, fire prevention and earthquake preparedness.
While major help would be available in and around the major cities, many of us don't realize that Japan is a series of several larger and many smaller, more isolated islands. Here, like in many areas of the United States, the local citizenry needs to plan to be the primary responders for the first 24 to 36 hours. That relies on trained and active citizens who are familiar enough with the basics to take action under the direction of the fire service. The Parade of Firemen begins to teach children as young as 6 these skills and responsibilities.
Coming full circle back to our visit in Yokosuka, it was easy to notice that our son and daughter-in-law had trained our three grandsons in preparedness. In the apartment were the essentials in the event of an earthquake or any need to quickly relocate. This included several ready bags with a change of clothes, non-perishable food for a couple days, flashlights and radios with extra batteries, and a first-aid kit. Sitting rather inconspicuously in another area was a plastic 5-gallon jug of fresh water to be taken with them or used in the apartment if the plan called for sheltering in place.
The visit to the Yokosuka Navy base reminded me as a fire chief that our prevention and preparedness efforts need to extend beyond fire prevention and take on a more universal scope that includes the natural and manmade disasters that our communities may suffer. It is time for all of us, especially those who serve smaller, more isolated communities, to remember that we need to incorporate the basic ideas found at www.ready.gov into our everyday prevention and preparedness efforts.
Even though they are more than 7,000 miles away, I'm comforted to know that our family overseas is prepared.
Chief Robert R. Rielage, CFO, EFO, MIFireE, is the chief of Wyoming (Ohio) Fire-EMS, a 78-member combination fire department bordering Cincinnati. He previously served as the fire marshal of the state of Ohio. A graduate of the Kennedy School's Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University, Rielage holds a master's degree in public administration from Norwich University and is the immediate past-president of the Institution of Fire Engineers-USA Branch. He is a member of the FIRE CHIEF Editorial Advisory Board.
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