Recent FDMA Developments

Results of the Review Meeting on the Future Approach toFirefighting after Lessons Learned from the Large-scale
Fire in Itoigawa City
Shinpei Taniguchi, Firefighting & Ambulance Division, FDMA
1. Basic approach after the lessons of the large-scale fire in Itoigawa City
The large-scale fire which broke out in Itoigawa City,
Niigata Prefecture at about 10:20 on December 22(Thu.), 2016 was the first large-scale fire in an
urban area after the large fire in Sakata City in 1976,
meaning the largest one in the past 40 years(excluding the ones caused by earthquake), withthe fire causing 17 injuries and damaging 147
buildings. This paper described the basic approachafter the “Review Meeting on the Future Approach
to Firefighting after Lessons Learned from theLarge-scale Fire in Itoigawa City” held by the
FDMA.

(1) The possibility of large-scale fires like thisoccurring
The district where the origin of the fire is situated isa dense zone of wooden buildings built in the earlypart of the Showa period (around 1930–1940) withstructures which do not meet fire-proof standards(so-called bare-wooden structures), and is a district
with comparatively poor performance for fires. On
the other hand, when viewing the entire burnt area,
although about 90% of the buildings were woodenbuildings, roads allowing the entry of fire trucks
were put in place with comparatively new buildings
also having been built recently, and you could saythat such districts are rather common, not justlimited to Itoigawa City.
Moreover, on the day of the fire, strong winds
continued from the morning (the maximum windspeed announced by the Japan Meteorological
Agency was 13.9 m/s from the south (at 10:20) andthe maximum instantaneous wind speed measured
by the Fire Department of Itoigawa City was 27.2
m/s from the south-southeast (at 11:40)). This,
together with the fact that the local meteorologicalobservatory of Niigata Prefecture had issued astrong wind warning at 05:10 on the day of the fire
(cancelled at 16:31 the next day) and also a fire
weather report to Niigata Prefecture at 09:35,
means that the weather conditions on the day
required more attention than usual regarding fire.
However, according to the AMEDAS observatory
data, the number of days with a maximum windspeed of more than 10 m/s in a year at theobservation point in Itoigawa City is 22.4 days/year,
which ranks 221st of 871 observation points all overJapan (meaning about a quarter down from the top).
This means that Itoigawa City is not a district withparticularly strong winds.
Therefore, it is necessary to examine the necessary
measures on the premise that this kind oflarge-scale fire can occur in any part of the country
which has many wooden buildings, in strong winds
once a fire breaks out.

A pillar of fire much higher than a 3 story building (photoprovided by the Fire Department of Itoigawa City)12

(2) Future approach to firefighting
Considering the future of firefighting, it is firstnecessary to analyze the urban structure of one’s
own jurisdictional district and identify or specify
those areas at high risk of a large-scale fire such as
those areas with many wooden buildings. Based onsuch an understanding, it is further necessary tocreate a standard or other document beforehand

which includes such information such as thenumber of fire trucks to be mobilized and thedeployment of staff to watch for leaping flames, inorder to enable quick and appropriate firefighting in
the event of a fire. According to a questionnaire
conducted in January 2017 with all fire departments
in Japan, about 60% of the fire departments havenot done such preparations.

2. Items each fire department should be engaged withThis section describes the main items that the
FDMA and each fire department should be engaged
with, based on the basic approach stated in 1
above.
(1) Identifying and specifying those areas at
high risk and creating fire prevention plans
Each fire department needs to analyze the urban
structure of its own jurisdiction and identify/specify
beforehand those areas with a high risk oflarge-scale fires such as those areas with dense
concentrations of wooden buildings (hereinafter“large-scale fire danger areas”). Also, in order tocope with a large-scale fire actually occurring in thelarge-scale fire danger areas, it is necessary tocreate beforehand a fire prevention plan defining
such items as the necessary number of pumpers,

fire water sources to be used and thelocations/departments of vehicles which meet thewidth of the roads and the status of the buildings.
To this end, the FDMA is planning to demonstrate
the procedures and standards for identifying andspecifying such areas by the middle of July, and we
also plan to share a fire prevention plan template.
We are further planning to exhibit advanced cases
where such identification and specification havebeen conducted. We also plan to hold training
sessions for each block for smaller fire departments
in August. Each fire department is requested tostart their necessary studies quickly andidentify/specify the large-scale fire danger areas byusing these FDMA engagements and then create
their fire prevention plan by the end of FY2017.

Fire Prevention Plan for High Risk Areas
Current
status60% of fire departments have not yet created a “fire prevention plan” after identifying/specifying those “areas with ahigh risk of fire danger.”
Major items to be included in the plan

○ Demonstrate the procedures/standards
for identifying/specifying areas at highrisk of a large-scale fire (such as using asimulation of an urban fire spreading).
○ Exhibit advanced cases.
○ Share a fire prevention plan template.

○ Regional danger elements- Areas with access to only one side, such as areas with a cliff- Dangerous facilities such as chemical factories○ Type and number of mobilized vehicles (such as pumpers, fire engines andambulance vehicles)○ Water resources to be used (such as fire hydrants, fire cisterns and rivers)○ Evacuation routes and locations

Creation to be supported by the FDMAor representative fire department ineach prefectureThis summer○ Conducting
training
sessions
mainly for smaller fire departments

By July

Support for creating a plan (FDMA)

Department location of vehicles

WatersourcesPlan creation (by each fire department)

Watersources○ Identifying/specifying areas and creating the plan
○ Conducting training sessions based on the plan

○ Identifying the status of creating the plan

Aiming to complete the plan by the end of FY2017

Department location of vehicles

Area in question

Water
sources13

Recent FDMA Developments(2) Reviewing the support organization
It is necessary for each fire department to not only
deploy their maximum firefighting power including
the volunteer fire corps by considering, based on
mobilization standards, the number of firefighterswhich can be mobilized, the status of vehicles andthe necessity of security watch in jurisdictional
areas other than the origin of the fire, but also issue
support requests at the same time.

It is also necessary to create a standard for support
requests beforehand to enable an objective
decision on whether or not to issue such request
depending on the location of the origin of the fire,
weather conditions and other factors.
It is further necessary, for times when support
requests need to be issued to multiple fire
departments, to structure the arrangements
beforehand with adjacent fire departments andother parties allowing, for example, a single request
to be issued to one fire department which thendistributes such request to the other departmentson behalf of the original department.
For smaller fire departments, since they will have toconcentrate their power on firefighting and will haveno room to issue support requests, it is advised toagree and establish a structure of always sharing
the status of the fire with the adjacent fire
departments and to allow the nearby departments
to go into action without waiting for a support
request if major damage is expected.

All-out firefighting (photo provided by the Fire Department of
Itoigawa City)

In the adjacent fire departments which will provide
the support, since the weather conditions are
expected to be similar to the original fire
department and support power may become
restricted, it is recommended to create a plan
beforehand to use reserve troops and call for
additional firefighters in order to maintain the samelevel of firefighting power inside their own area.
The FDMA is planning to demonstrate measures toreview these support schemes such as introducing
cases of the advanced support schemes statedabove by the end of July.

Flames breaking out at a location 200 m away from the original location of fire (photo provided by the Fire Department of Itoigawa City)

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Shopping street turned into devastated land (photo provided by the Fire Department of Itoigawa City)

Each fire department is requested to start theirstudies quickly and to review the supportingorganization by referring to the measures to be
demonstrated by the FDMA.
(3) Assurance of fire water sources
When each department creates their fire prevention
plan, it is necessary to define, in addition todeciding the fire water sources to be used in thelarge-scale fire danger areas as already stated in 2.
(1) above, the water supply not only provided bylarge-scale water tank vehicles and water supply
from volunteer fire corps but also such support as
10 t water tank cars from other fire departments,
drainage pump cars from MLIT and concrete mixer
cars from private companies should also be defined.
Furthermore, it is also necessary to close contracts
on such activities as water supply with local
construction associations and individual local
construction companies beforehand.
The FDMA is planning to introduce advanced casesof such contracts by the summer.
Each fire department is requested to start theirstudies as soon as possible and to review the
support organization using the advanced cases
introduced by the FDMA as reference.

Furthermore, since it will be necessary to transportbulk water from natural water sources such as fromthe sea and from rivers in events where the spreadof fire takes a longer period of time to contain, it isnecessary to install a super pumper or similar if
appropriate for the actual situation of each region.
Since the super pumper is applicable to emergency
disaster prevention/disaster reduction industry
bonds and facility introduction subsidies for
Emergency Fire Response Teams, each fire
department is requested to consider its
introduction.
(4) Making the installation of fire extinguishers
compulsory for small-scale restaurants
For restaurants with a gross area less than 150 m2,
the installation of fire extinguishers is obligated byfire prevention ordinance as part of local publicauthorities but is not obligated by nation-wide
regulations.
Hence, in view of the danger of stove fires inrestaurants, the FDMA is planning to revise theOrdinance of Enforcement for the Fire Services Act,making the installation of fire extinguishers in suchsmaller restaurants compulsory.

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Recent FDMA Developments

Countermeasures Based on the Experience of the Large-scale Fire in Itoigawa City
1. General
A large-scale fire can occur in any region with many wooden buildings in strong winds.

2. Countermeasures(Photo provided by the Fire Department of Itoigawa City)(1) Outline of proposal(2) Direction of countermeasures

Identification/specification of high risk areas and the promotion of creating fire prevention plans
Identifies and specifies those areas at high risk of a large-scale fire and promotes the creation of a fire
prevention plan.
Defines such items as the number of necessary pumpers, the fire water sources to be used
and the department location of the vehicles, and executes training according to the plan.

○ Shows the procedures/standards for
identifying/specifying areas (using
such methods as simulating an urban
fire spreading). (by July)○ Shares the plan templates. (by July)○ Executes training sessions. (thissummer)(Photo provided by the Fire
Department of Itoigawa City)(3) Goals to achieve○ Aim to create a planand close contracts
as soon as possible.

Support organization-

Mobilizes the maximum firefighting power in the region and issues support requests at thesame time.
The representative fire department, etc. issues support requests on the behalf of others.
The adjacent fire departments, etc. mobilize without waiting for a support request.
Uses reserved cars and volunteer fire corps for backup in the event of support activities toprevent the level of firefighting power declining.

○ Shows the methods for reviewing the
support schemes. (by this summer)

Fire water sources-

Promotes the creation of a plan for assuring the fire water sources in identified/specified areas.
Closes contracts with local construction industry associations, etc. on such matters as water supply
activities.
Introduces super pumpers* for remote and bulk water supply from natural water resources such asseas and rivers.
* Introduction status: Already deployed at 21 fire departments, 50 teams
Supply capacity: More than 3,000 L/min for 1 km ahead (a normal pumper can supply 1,500
L/min for 200 m ahead)

Making the installation of fire extinguishers compulsory in smaller
restaurants
Investigates regulations to make the installation of fire extinguishers in smaller restaurants with a grossarea of less than 150 m2 also compulsory.

○ Assures fire water sources.
Using financial support schemes○ Introduces advanced cases of closing
contracts. (by this summer)○ Aim to assure therequired fire water
sources.

○ Studies ordinance, etc. revisions. (byend of FY2017)○ Strengthen initial fire
extinguishingmeasures.

○ Validation by executing model projects
in FY2017 (by end of FY2017)○ Examine expansion
based on validation
results.

Interlocking type home fire alarm
Studies and validates the effects and issues of new methods of transmitting a fire alarm using home fire
alarms between adjacent buildings including restaurants.
Reassuring safety management forvolunteer fire corps-

Upgrades safety devices such as fire protective hats with shields and reassures safety management
through measures such as thorough enforcement of the correct way to wear.

(5) Interlocking type home fire alarms
To enable the early perception of fire and forresidents to collaborate in extinguishing the initialfire in the event of a fire at a restaurant, a newmodel project is to be conducted at the FDMA
utilizing home fire alarms with such alarms
transmitting one to the other between adjacentbuildings including small restaurants. The effects
and issues of these projects will be examined.

○ Makes the upgrade of safety devices
known to all. (Notifications alreadyissued in May)○

Thorough execution ofsafety management by
upgrading installations.

(6) Thorough execution of safety management
for volunteer fire corps
When firefighting in strong winds in large-scale firerisk areas, since the risk of injury to the eyes bysmoke and flying objects is high, each fire
department needs to thoroughly execute safety
management by such means as upgrading thenecessary safety attire such as fire prevention hatswith shields being supplied to the volunteer fire
corps and education provided on how to correctly
wear such equipment.

3. Others
This fire reminded us of our lack of care, the lack ofwhich caused us to think that a large-scale firewould not occur in an urban area. We expect eachfire department to put the points stated above and16

other measures into action quickly andappropriately so that a large-scale fire in an urban
area will not occur again.