Activities of Firefighting Agencies during
the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes
Mutual Aid Management Office/Regional Disaster Management Office,Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA)

1 Emergency Fire Response Teams

Total of dispatched teams: Approx. 1,400

After the foreshock on April 14, based ona call for service from the Commissionerof the FDMA, Emergency Fire Response
Teams from a total of 10 prefectures
centering on prefectures in the Kyushu
region were immediately dispatched toKumamoto Prefecture.

Total of dispatched personnel: Approx.
5,000

When the main shock occurred on April
16, the damage was expected to beeven more severe. So, based on anothercall for service from the Commissioner ofthe FDMA, new Emergency Fire
Response Teams from a total of 10prefectures centering on prefectures inthe Chugoku and Shikoku regions weredispatched, and reinforcement teams
from the first 9 prefectures (excludingOita) were dispatched.

Total of active personnel: Approx. 16,000

During the main shock, a seismic
intensity of 6 lower or more wasregistered in Kumamoto and Oita. The
dispatch of new Emergency Fire
Response Teams to Oita was also
considered, but it was decided that theOita Prefectural Team in action after theforeshock would respond to calls in its
own prefecture and the other Emergency
Fire Response Teams would bedispatched to Kumamoto.
(1) Activity period
A total of 14 days from April 14 (Thu.) toApril 27 (Wed.), 2016
(2) Activity scale(*All figures are preliminary estimates asof May 1.)

Actual totals of dispatched teams andpersonnel including replacements
Total of active teams: Approx. 4,300(3) Main activities
a. The activities focused on Kumamoto
City, Mashiki Town, Nishihara Village,and Minamiaso Village.
b. Groundteams
conducted
thefollowing in cooperation with therelevant authorities including thepolice, Japan Self-Defense Forces(JSDF), the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism:
MLIT (TEC-FORCE) and DMAT: 1)
search and rescue activities coveringcollapsed buildings in urban areas
and residential areas, 2) search andrescue activities with shovels on thescene of landslide disasters, and 3)
ambulance service for patients tochange hospitals and for sick or
injured persons in evacuation centers,etc.
Site videos were also effectively
distributed by utilizing radio relay
vehicles.

c. Air teams gathered information anddistributed videos by utilizing thehelicopter video transmission system
andthehelicopter
satellite
communications
system,andconducted rescue activities via
helicopter hoist and ambulanceservices by helicopter.
d. At the site of the collapse of the Aso
Ohashi Bridge in Minamiaso Village,
the width of the landslide made it
impossible
togetaclearunderstanding of the disaster situationfrom the ground. Therefore, landslidedisaster experts boarded a fire
helicopter to confirm the situation fromabove.

e. Based on this data, the on-site joint
coordination center consulted with therelevant organizations about theground teams’ course of action, andconductedsearchandrescue
activities taking secondary disasterprevention into consideration byutilizing the earthquake alarms that
rescue teams possess as part of theiradvanced rescue equipment as wellas
MLIT’sunmannedheavyequipment.
f. In Kumamoto Prefecture, the groundteams and air teams rescued 86
persons,andtheambulances
rescued 388 persons in total.

Emergency Fire Response Teams
Command response teams
Ground teams
Air teamsDispatched Fukuoka City, Kitakyushu
Fukuoka Pref., Saga Pref., Fukuoka City, and Kochi
due to the City, Hiroshima City, Kobe
Nagasaki Pref., Oita Pref.,Pref.
foreshock
City, and Okayama City
Miyazaki Pref., and(April 14)
Kagoshima Pref.
Osaka City
Kyoto Pref., Osaka Pref.,Tokyo Fire Department,
Hyogo Pref., Tottori Pref.,Kyoto City, Osaka City,
Shimane Pref., Okayama
Kobe City, Tottori Pref.,Pref., Hiroshima Pref.,Shimane Pref., Okayama
DispatchedYamaguchi Pref.,City, Hiroshima Pref.,due to theTokushima Pref., Kagawa
Hiroshima City, Yamaguchi
main shockPref., Ehime Pref., Kochi
Pref., Kagawa Pref., Ehime(April 16)
Pref., Fukuoka Pref., Saga Pref., Nagasaki Pref.,Pref., Nagasaki Pref.,Miyazaki Pref., andMiyazaki Pref., Kagoshima Kagoshima Pref.
Pref., and Okinawa Pref.
*The underlined prefectures dispatched a team of reinforcements due to the main shock.

firefighting support teams and firefighting support
2 Prefecturalteams from other prefectures (excluding Emergency Fire Response Teams)

4 Volunteer fire corps

To take over the activities of theEmergency Fire Response Teams after
their withdrawal, prefectural firefightingsupport teams were dispatched basedon the Mutual Assistance Agreement on
firefighting in Kumamoto. Firefighting
support teams from Kitakyushu Fire andDisaster Management Bureau andFukuoka Fire Prevention Bureau werealso dispatched based on Article 39 of
the Fire and Disaster Management
Organization
Actandsupported
firefighting in Minamiaso Village. The
situation surrounding their activities wasas follows.

In this earthquake disaster, many
volunteer fire corps became active
immediately after the earthquakes inorder to carry out a lot of activities, suchas fighting fires just after theearthquakes, confirming safety andproviding evacuation guidance for localresidents, rescue activities for those
trapped under collapsed houses, andoperational support for evacuation
centers after the earthquakes, andprovided the core of regional disasterprevention
capabilities
bytaking
advantageoftheiruniquecharacteristics.

(1) Prefecturalteams

The scale of the activities was asfollows: a total of roughly 59,000members (roughly 9,200 members at thepeak on April 17) were active inKumamoto between April 15 and May 4,
and a total of roughly 4,700 members
were active in Oita on April 16–17 (as ofMay 4, surveyed by the FDMA).

firefighting

supporta. Active period: A total of 9 days from
April 27 (Wed.) to May 5 (Thu.), 2016b. Total of active personnel: 186(2) Firefighting support teams fromotherprefectures(excluding
Emergency Fire Response Teams)a. Active period: A total of 6 days from
April 27 (Wed.) to May 2 (Mon.), 2016b. Total of active personnel: 36
3 Local fire departments
Local fire departments worked hard
firefighting within their own jurisdictions.
The peak activity conditions inKumamoto and Oita, which were sodevastated, were as follows.
(1) Fire departments within Kumamoto
Pref.: A total of 968 firefighters (April16)(2) Fire departments within Oita Pref.: A
total of 378 firefighters (April 16)

The main activities were as follows:(1) Activities just after the Earthquake
a. Firefighting
Volunteer fire corps rushed out early
to the locations of fires just after theEarthquake and fought those fires.
They also conducted activities tocontrol the fires in cooperation withthe fire departments.
b. Safety confirmation
Volunteer fire corps, which know thelocal conditions well, could promptlyconfirm safety.
c. Rescue activities, etc.
During these earthquakes, a lot ofhouses collapsed, and roads alsocollapsed in some areas. Amid
concerns about the late arrival of
rescue teams, the volunteer fire corps
confirmed safety as described aboveand rescued those trapped under thecollapsed houses. They rescued 5
persons in Minamiaso Village, 7persons in Nishihara Village and 47
persons in Mashiki Town.

b. Distributing flyers and talking to local
residents both inside and outside theevacuation centers to prevent themfrom developing DVT.
c. Patrols and security activities in theaffected areas to prevent theft
including burglars sneaking into
empty houses from which theinhabitants had evacuated, as well as
inspecting disaster hazards.

Firefighting (Yatsushiro
City volunteer fire corps)

Activities at the landslidesite (Minamiaso Village
volunteer fire corps)(2) Activities after the Earthquake
Even days after the earthquakes,
volunteer fire corps conducted activities
other than firefighting or rescue activities,
such as doing rounds of evacuation
centers which had a lot of evacuees andlocal community patrols.
a. Water service, hot meal service andassistance with carrying-in supplies.

Talking in an evacuation
center (Uki City volunteer
fire corps)

Debris removal(Nishihara Village
volunteer fire corps)

The FDMA, applying the lessons learned
from these activities, will further enhanceand strengthen the fire and disastermanagement systems including theactivity system for Emergency Fire
Response Teams, and do its best to takeappropriate measures against disasters.