At a glance information

Fire Fighting
Mutual Aid Fund
Relief and safety support network
for people who protect lives!

Protect volunteer ﬁreﬁghters and their family members

Introduction
The Mutual Aid Fund for Oﬃcial Casualties and Retirement of Volunteer Fireﬁghters (hereinafter
called the Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund) was established in 1956 as an organization implementing
the mutual aid system throughout Japan for smooth execution of municipal-level compensation
programs for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters and other associated members. In 1964, a mutual aid system for
retirement beneﬁts for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters was added to the duties. In ﬁscal year 1997, theorganization was privatized by removing the institutional monopoly of the operations andreorganized due to minimization of the government involvement, which resulted in further
revitalization of the management and promotion of eﬃcient service performances.
The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund is not intended to make proﬁt, and, since its foundation,compensation and retirement beneﬁt operations are maintained, supported by proper installments
to make sure the same level of services are provided to all places in Japan. This Fund has beenproviding smooth implementation of compensation and retirement beneﬁt payments for volunteer
ﬁreﬁghters working in all municipalities in Japan.

Allocation of the Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund
The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund makes contracts with municipalities in accordance with the law
and pays expenditures required for compensation or retirement beneﬁt payments executed bymunicipalities.
Additionally, the Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund executes services that are necessary for providing
welfare services for victimized volunteer ﬁreﬁghters or bereaved families on behalf of municipalities,
as well as services required for preventing oﬃcial duty-related accidents.

Organization Chart
Mutual Aid Fund for Oﬃcial Casualties and Retirement of Volunteer Fireﬁghters(Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund)
Chief Director(Part-time)

Managing
Director

Board ofDirectors
Directors(Part-time, 5 directors)

Inspector

ExecutiveOﬃce
General Aﬀairs
SectionAccounting
SectionCompensation
SectionBoard ofCouncilors

ReviewCommittee

10 councilors(Part-time)

5 committee
members

Retirement
Beneﬁt Section

Planning
Section(Part-time)Flow chart for the two major networks of the FireFighting Mutual Aid Fund that support safety andwelfare of volunteer ﬁreﬁghters
Mechanism of the Mutual Aid Fund for Oﬃcial Casualties of Volunteer Fireﬁghters
National
Government
Establishment of laws and regulations(Contracted municipalities)

Installment

Municipalities

Compensation

Partially run by union aﬀairs(Fireﬁghting union aﬀairs, etc.)

Expenditure

Compensation cost

FireFighting
MutualAidFund

Welfare service cost(Indemnitees)

Medicalinstitution

Volunteer ﬁreﬁghters- Flood prevention oﬃcers
Private supporters

Mechanism of the Mutual Aid Fund for Retirement of Volunteer Fireﬁghters
National
Government
Establishment of laws and regulations(Contracted municipalities)

Installment
Municipalities

Partially run by union aﬀairs(Fireﬁghting union aﬀairs, etc.)

Retirement Beneﬁt Payments

Retirement Beneﬁt Payments
Volunteer
ﬁreﬁghters

Expenditure

FireFighting
MutualAidFund

Relief for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters

Provide expenditures required for compensation for accidents
occurring during oﬃcial duties
When injury, illness or death occurs during the performance of the oﬃcial duties of a volunteer
ﬁreﬁghter, the amount required for the compensation is paid to the municipality that initiates
the compensation.Additionally, on behalf of the municipality, various types of payments required forproviding welfare services are paid to a victimized volunteer ﬁreﬁghter or his/her bereaved family.

Amounts of compensation/welfare services spent in last ﬁve years
Amount paid (million yen)

Number of cases(Left-hand scale)(Right-hand scale)Compensation cost(*for the disaster)Amount paid
(million yen) Welfare service cost

FY2010

Numberof cases(*for the disaster)

FY2011FY2012FY2013

FY2014*For FY2011 and FY2012 data, the amounts paid were calculated by separating those used
for disaster-related compensation and those used for compensation unrelated to disaster.

Immediate transactions at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake
Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, many
volunteer ﬁreﬁghters were deployed and provided selﬂess support.
Unprecedented number of volunteer ﬁreﬁghters were killed by the large tsunami during theactivities, especially when closing sluice gates or performing evacuation guidance.
The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund immediately processed the transactions for payments forthe oﬃcial casualty compensation to the bereaved families of the 198 volunteer ﬁreﬁghters.

Fireﬁghters performing search operations(Left-Sendai City Wakabayashi volunteer ﬁreﬁghters, Right-Iwate Otsuchi Town volunteer ﬁreﬁghters)

Provide expenditures required for retirement beneﬁt payments
The retirement beneﬁt is a monetary reward to be paid by municipalities for volunteer
ﬁreﬁghters who have provided long years of services, at the time of retirement.
In accordance with the law, the Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund pays the amount required forthe retirement beneﬁt to the contracted municipalities. The amount is calculated based on
the relevant ordinance and was signiﬁcantly increased in ﬁscal year 2014.

Amounts spent in last ﬁve years
Number of people (Right-hand scale)

Amount paid(100 million yen)

[Fiscal Year] FY2010

Amount paid (100 million yen) (Left-hand scale)

FY2011FY2012FY2013

Numberof people

FY2014

Provide information

The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund issues publications such as public relation brochures(seasonal issuance) and provides training opportunities for the responsible personnel fromprefectures and municipalities to ensure smooth execution of the operations.

Administrative operation brieﬁng

For more details pertaining to the Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund, please visit our website(http://www.syouboukikin.jp/)

For safety of volunteer ﬁreﬁghters

Support prevention of oﬃcial duty-related accidents
In an average year, more than 1,300 oﬃcial duty-related accidents of volunteer ﬁre ﬁghters occur.
Additionally, a total of nine volunteer ﬁreﬁghters have died on duty in the last ﬁve years, excludingthose who were killed by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
(people)Number of oﬃcial duty-related accidents
occurred in the last ﬁve years

10,000 people

Number of casualties (Left-hand scale)
For the disaster

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Number of volunteer ﬁreﬁghters(Right-hand scale)

References 1. The number of casualties is based on the number of incidents occurred in each year for which the compensation payment occurs by the end of

the following ﬁscal year.
2. The number of ﬁreﬁghters is the actual number of active personnel as of April 1st of each ﬁscal year.
However, the number does not include volunteer ﬁreﬁghters who belong to the municipalities that have no contract with the Fire Fighting Mutual
Aid Fund for the Mutual Aid Fund for Oﬃcial Casualties of Volunteer Fireﬁghters.
3. The numbers shown in parentheses ( ) indicate the numbers of fatalities that occurred in each ﬁscal year.

The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund provides proactive support for municipalities and other agencies thatare seeking training opportunities for preventing oﬃcial duty-related accidents or for safety equipment
procurement to protect volunteer ﬁreﬁghters from accidents before they happen.

(1) Subsidy services for safety equipment procurement for ﬁreﬁghters, etc.
Subsidies are provided to municipalities that pursue procurement of safety equipment that is required
for activities performed by volunteer ﬁreﬁghters.
Amount paid
(100 million yen)Amount of subsidies in the last ﬁve years

Number of organizations

Amount paid (million yen) (Left-hand scale)

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Number of organizations (Right-hand scale)Examples of subsidy services

Lighting equipment

Fireproof clothing

Life jacket

Cold weather clothing(2) Oﬃcial duty-related accident prevention training services for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters
For the purpose of protecting volunteer ﬁreﬁghters from oﬃcial duty-related accidents, the Fire Fighting Mutual
Aid Fund provides support for subsidy allocations to municipalities that implement the following four types ofservices to enhance safety and health-related training programs.

Volunteer ﬁreﬁghter safety management seminar
This seminar is intended to train volunteer ﬁreﬁghters for them to deepen the understanding of safety and healthmanagement.

S-KYT (risk prediction training for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters) training
This training is intended to train volunteer ﬁreﬁghters for them to obtain methods to develop abilities to predictrisks associated with ﬁreﬁghting activities and take proper actions against the risks.

Health promotion seminar for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters
This seminar is intended to train volunteer ﬁreﬁghters for them to learn physical exercises that are useful for
health management and health promotion to prevent oﬃcial duty-related accident caused by physical and mentaldisease.

Disaster rescue stress management training for volunteer ﬁreﬁghters
This training is intended to train volunteer ﬁreﬁghters for them to learn how to manage disaster-related stress that
could have built up during disaster rescue activities.

S-KYT training

Health promotion seminar

Course materials for the training programs(3) Oﬃcial duty-related accident prevention investigation and research project
The Fire Fighting Mutual Aid Fund performs investigations and research required as countermeasures againstoﬃcial duty-related accidents that might be caused as a result of volunteer ﬁreﬁghters’ operations.

Kasumigaseki
Building

Just in case for unexpected casualties

Toranomon
Exit 3

Shosen Kotohira-gu
Mitsui
ShrineBuildingJapan
TravelBureauNissho Hall
Hotel Okura

Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line

Toranomon 2-Chome Tower

Toranomon
Hospital

Embassyof theUnitedStates ofAmerica

Exit 2

Mitsui
Building

The Bank ofTokyo-Mitsubishi
UFJTo Kamiyacho

To
ShibToTameike

TEL 03-3595-0541
FAX 03-3581-7720
Nissho Hall 8F, 2-9-16 Toranomon,Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001
http://www.syouboukikin.jp
Email webmaster@syouboukikin.jp

uya

Mutual Aid Fund for Oﬃcial Casualities
and Retirement of Volunteer Fireﬁghters

MizuhoBank

Toranomon
Hills