Journal of Natural Disaster Science, Volume 33, Number 2, 2012, pp85-98

Verification of the Effectiveness of a Practical Approach to Realizing a
Cooperative Interpersonal Relationship for Regional Fire Risk Reduction
Keerati SRIPRAMAI*
Yasushi OIKAWA**
Hiroshi WATANABE***
Toshitaka KATADA*****Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate school of Engineering, Gunma University**Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Toyo University***Institute of Social Technology, IDA Co. Ltd.
****Research Center for Disaster Prevention in the Extended Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Department of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Gunma University(Received October 13, 2011 Accepted April 2, 2012)
ABSTRACT
Generally, to improve regional safety against fire, indispensable strategies are not only thereinforcement of the governmental ability, but also the strengthening of the cooperative
relationship between government and non-government, which means volunteers, residents,and so forth. Needless to say, effective strategy should be varied depending on the actual
situation in the subject area. Bangkok, our study area, is no exception. It was reported thatthe fundamental problems to first be resolved in Bangkok were not only a shortage of firestations, but also an uncooperative relationship beetween governmental and voluntary
firefighting. It has been difficult to solve these problems all at once because of deep-rooted
chronic problems. In the previous study, although a certain strategy that ought to be usefulfor realizing a cooperative interpersonal relationship was proposed, the validity of the
proposal has not yet been ascertained. Accordingly, in this paper, we would like to put anapproach based on this strategy into practice in light of the facts, and to verify the effectof this implementation. In fact, we investigated quite carefully a number of negotiations,
meetings, and questionnaire surveys. Finally, it is considered possible to establish acooperative interpersonal relationship between both parties using the above strategy.
Keyword: firefighting, fire volunteer, cooperative relations, workshop, Bangkok

1. INTRODUCTION

tionship between government and non-government,
meaning volunteers, residents, and so forth. Needlessto say, the effective strategy should be varied in accordance with the actual situation in the subject area,
because there is no guarantee that certain strategies orcountermeasures based on the common-sense values

Generally, in order to enhance regional safety in theface of disasters and accidents, essential strategies are
not only the reinforcement of governmental ability,
but also the strengthening of the cooperative rela85

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

strategy that should be considered in a practical approach. However, it is also true that the validity of theabove proposal has not yet been confirmed. Besides
this, whether such a proposal is fully practicable or
not has not even been ascertained. Accordingly, in thispaper, we would like to put the approach based on theabove proposal into practice in light of the facts, andto verify the effect of this practical approach in theestablishment of a cooperative relationship between
voluntary firefighters and governmental firefighters in
Bangkok.
If we direct our attention to the recent Japanesesituation from the above point of view, we can observe a highly developed firefighting system throughwhich a fire can be immediately extinguished, except
for a large number of simultaneous fires in a huge
earthquake. It is considered that there is the effect ofa smooth cooperative relationship between governmental and non-governmental firefighting. Generally,
what is important in the case of not only Japan but
also some developing countries is that voluntary firefighting plays a part in official firefighting on a legal
basis.
Generally, it is unusual for most developing
countries to have such a highly developed firefighting
system. For example, AUDMP and ADPC reported asituation in Laos (AUDMP, ADPC, 2003). This is also
an interesting report on community-based fire risk assessment under the condition where there is not evenany organized voluntary firefighting at all.
It seems that Bangkok, our subject area, is anintermediate case between that of Japan and that of
Laos concerning the firefighting system, because
there is both governmental firefighting and organizedvoluntary firefighting in Bangkok. However, voluntary firefighting groups in Bangkok are not positioned
as part of the official firefighting on a legal basis. In
the past, there were indeed some researches (Khunteetao, 2007) on volunteer activities in Thailand, but
it is difficult to find other studies on solutions to improve regional firefighting ability, especially studies
focusing on the relationship between official and voluntary firefighting.

of one subject area will be of universal application to
all other regions. Consequently, a process to clarify
the fundamental problems in the subject area is essential.
Bangkok, our study area, is no exception. As
Bangkok has urbanized rapidly, it is generally said
that improvement of regional firefighting ability is avital topic today. The most fundamental problem isa fatal delay in governmental firefighting arrival at afire scene. Consequently, sufficient spraying of waterat the early stage of a fire by governmental firefighting cannot be expected at present. Needless to say, afundamental solution to this problem is to increase thenumber of fire stations. However, it is impossible toput this solution into practice at once, because it is noteasy to raise funds and building lots for so many new
fire stations in a short period. As a result, some residents have turned to defending themselves, becoming voluntary firefighters, because it is difficult forresidents to trust governmental firefighting. It is truethat these voluntary firefighters have the advantageof speed. On the other hand, it is also true that sometimes, some voluntary firefighters do not contributeto the extinguishment or rescue at all due to their lackof knowledge, skill, and morals. Moreover, it often
happens that the voluntary firefighters obstruct the official firefighters’ activities.
This situation of firefighting between the official
firefighters and the voluntary firefighters in Bangkok
has already been reported in a previous study (Sripramai et al., 2011).[1] Moreover, it was also consideredthat there is no method that does not make use of voluntary firefighters, not only to counteract the fatal delay in governmental firefighters’ arrival at a fire scene
but also to increase the amount of potential spraying
water. In fact, in some basic laws in Thailand, there
are descriptions of the cooperative relationship between official firefighters and voluntary firefightersfor not only fire events but also all disasters (Disaster
Prevention and Mitigation, 2007). However, it is truethat there is no such cooperative relationship at all inreal life. In the previous study, on the basis of a feasibility investigation into the cooperative interpersonal
relationship, it was concluded that although it wasdifficult to effect such a relationship immediately,a glimmer of hope can be seen. Furthermore, it wassuggested that holding a consultation with each otherfor mutual understanding was quite important as a

2. FRAMEWORK OF THIS APPROACH
2.1 Outline of this framework
In this chapter, we will discuss the framework of this86

VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION

practical approach. The aim of this approach is forboth parties to establish a cooperative interpersonal
relationship for regional fire risk reduction in Bangkok. Needless to say, if both parties had already had
mutual understanding about the importance of a cooperative interpersonal relationship from the beginning,
all that would have been needed would be to set up a
joint meeting for them to discuss concrete and immediate solutions. However, as we reported in the previous paper (Sripramai et al., 2011), far from being inthis desirable situation, it was clear that both parties
disliked each other.
Generally, in order to change this hostile relationship to a cooperative one, discussion based ontransferring subordinate immediate frames to a superordinate common frame plays an important role (Azuma, 2009). In this study, the phrase “superordinate
common frame” implies that both parties think about
regional safety and saving people’s lives from fire
through unanimous cooperation. Therefore, we heldup the following point as a fundamental, essential
matter that should be achieved through our practical
approach.

[Point 3] Both parties should recognize that it is possible to achieve collaboration.
If the three conditions above had been satisfied
completely, it could then have been an easy matter toestablish a cooperative relation between them. At thispoint, taking a look at the real world, we notice thedifficulty of having a place for discussion with bothparties in order to achieve the above three points.
Therefore, we are obliged to say that it is still difficult
to accomplish the establishment of a cooperative relationship without recognizing the following point.
[Point 4] Both parties should recognize that a placefor discussion is essential in order to put the above
three points into practice.
In this study, in order to establish a cooperative
relationship by accomplishing the above four points,
we set several procedural steps. As shown in Fig. 1,
the research reported in the previous paper (Sripramai
et al., 2011) is positioned as a first step to grasp theinitial stance for the above four points. Afterward, toenhance their motivation for having a joint meeting,we proposed a negotiation step, which was further
separated into a pre-meeting step before the joint
meeting. During this approach, we also set several
checkpoints to confirm their actual stance toward theabove four points. These checkpoints were conducted
as questionnaire surveys indicated as signs [1G], [2G],[3G], [4G], [1V], [2V], [3V], and [4V] in Fig. 1.
Details of the above four steps are explained in
the following.

[Point 1] Both parties should recognize that theother’s most fundamental public spirit is identical totheir own.
However, it is clear that resolving the above issue alone will not accomplish the establishment ofa cooperative interpersonal relationship for regionalfire risk reduction. Namely, nobody ought to haveany motivation to establish a cooperative relationship without recognizing its effects. Therefore, it isconsidered that the following point must be achieved
simultaneously.

2.2 Step 1: Initial stanceIn the previous study (Sripramai et al., 2011), questionnaire surveys were conducted for both the voluntary firefighters and the governmental firefighters
in Bang Khae District, Bangkok, Thailand, which
was chosen as the case study area. The aim of thesesurveys was to investigate their initial stances towardcollaboration. Therefore, in this study, we would liketo interpret these previous surveys as a first step inour practical approach. In other words, the following
practical activities in this study should be based on the
result of these previous surveys, and should be carriedout for the same district as the previous surveys.
In Fig. 1, we use the symbol “questionnaire[Point 2] Both parties should recognize that collaboration is effective in achieving the above unity of public spirit.
However, there are many obstructions and concrete problems in the establishment of a cooperative
relationship. Namely, even if the above two points
were wholly achieved, it would still be difficult toestablish a cooperative relationship without recognition of its feasibility. Therefore, the following points
should be achieved simultaneously.
87

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

survey [1G]” and “[1V]” to represent these previous
surveys for convenience of description. Furthermore,
we would like to summarize and reproduce here theresults and an outline of surveys [1G] and [1V] as
Fig. 2 and Table 1. According to these results, the following matters have already been resolved.
Firstly, as the Fig. 2(1) indicates, it was clearthat both sides recognized their own advantages anddisadvantages. Namely, the voluntary group has theadvantage of being able to arrive at a fire scene earlier than the governmental firefighters, and the governmental firefighters have the advantage of having
expert equipment, techniques, and knowledge. As far
as the above results are concerned, it seems that bothwere complementary to each other and that collaboration was fairly efficient.

Governmental
Firefighters Side

Voluntary
Firefighters Side

Initial stance

Initial stance

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[1G][1G]

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[1V][1V]

Step 1

Yes

Feb-Mar.2010

Ready
Ready forfor joint
joint meeting?
meeting?
No

No

Negotiation
Negotiation with
with leader
leader [V][V]

Step 2

Negotiation
Negotiation with
with leader
leader [G]
[G]

Agree
Agree toto pre-meeting?
pre-meeting?
Yes

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[2V][2V]Pre-meeting [G]Pre-meeting [V]Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[3G][3G]

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[3V]
[3V]

No

Jun.5, 2011
& Jun.6, 2011

Step 3

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[2G]
[2G]

Ready
Ready forfor joint
joint meeting?
meeting?
Yes
Joint Meeting

No

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey[4V]
[4V]

Agree
Agree toto collaboration?
collaboration?
Yes
OK

Fig. 1 Framework of this approach
88

Jun.8, 2011
Step 4

Questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
survey [4G]
[4G]

VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION(1) Cognitions for their own advantages and disadvantages on fire fighting
a)

20%

60%

80%

8.0

46.3
43.6

25.9

24.8

34.6

1.9 n=101
0.9 n=107

39.3

11.9 3.0 n=67

34.3

31.8

n=100

0.9 n=108

29.7

25.2
50.7

8.2

100%

60.0

26.9

[firefighters] Do you think your organization is more effective than the voluntary group?
[volunteers] Do you think your organization is more effective than the fire department?

40%

30.0

[firefighters] Do you have enough tools when you go to the event?
[volunteers] Do you have enough tools when you go to the event?

b)

c)

0%

[firefighters] Can you reach the event before volunteers come? 2.0[volunteers] Can you reach the event before fire fighters come?

47.1

12.9

n=85

(2) Stances on collaboration with each other
a)

b)

c)

[firefighters] Do you want to coordinate and share information with the voluntary group?

31.7[volunteers] Do you want to coordinate and share information with the firefighters?

34.6[firefighters] Do you want to follow what the voluntary group inform you of? 3.0[volunteers] Do you want to follow what the fire officers inform you of?

10.2

9.3

35.5

6.5 n=108

33.3

39.8

25.7

n=101

26.9

n=108

18.8

3.0
1.0 n=101

61.4
38.9

24.1

n=107

10.0 n=101

62.0

25.0
20.4

[firefighters] Do you think the voluntary group will follow your command? 1.0 11.9
[volunteers] Do you think the fire officers will follow your instruction?

2.0 n=101

34.7

31.7
20.6

(3) Fundamental purposea)[firefighters] Do you want to help people when disaster occurs?
[volunteers] Do you want to help people when disaster occurs?
Note: [square brackets] mean the subject type of the investigation.

77.2
65.7

yes

4.6
0.0n=10829.6

rather yes

rather nono

Fig. 2 Summary of the results of previous questionnaire surveys [1G] and [1V]

result did not necessarily show that there was alreadya mutual understanding regarding firefighting. On thecontrary, it would be better for us to understand thatboth parties did not know that the other party’s thinking on this issue was the same as their own thinking,not only because there was almost no contact witheach other before, but also because they disliked eachother.
As a whole, the conclusions of the previous
study were that the immediate establishment of acooperative relationship under chronic conflict anddiscord was not so easy, and that the key to resolving
this matter was mutual understanding, rather than justconveying the will of the governing to the governed.

Table 1 Summary of questionnaire surveys [1G] and[1V]
Governmental
Voluntary
Firefighters [1G] Firefighters [1V]
Date
February-March 2010
Area
Bangkok (Bang Khae District)
Distribution
Handing out the questionnaire
ReturnPicking it up later
Sample101
108

On the other hand, previous survey results asshown in Fig. 2(2) also made it clear that both parties
had a negative stance on collaboration with each other. In fact, it was said that this disagreement has beena deep-rooted chronic problem over all Bangkok for along time. In this sense, it was concluded that it would
be quite difficult to immediately effect a genuinely
cooperative relationship between them in a situationof chronic conflict and discord. At that time, if we had
promptly called both parties together for discussion
about collaboration, the meeting would have been acomplete failure. In fact, no one has succeeded in settling this issue in Bangkok.
In contrast, it was also confirmed from the resultof the surveys shown in Fig. 2(3) that both parties
had a common public spirit of “saving as many lives
as possible.” In this sense, it was also concluded that
there was a glimmer of hope and a foundation forcooperative relations between them. However, this

2.3 Step 2: Negotiation with leaders
However, it is also considered that such a joint meeting should be held after careful preparations, andnot be set abruptly, because it was clear that neither
were ready for a face-to-face discussion at this point.
Therefore, it is also considered that we should holdseparate pre-meetings for each party in parallel before
the joint meeting. However, it also seems that suchpre-meetings are still unthinkable from both parties’
points of view, even if the pre-meetings were separately conducted. Accordingly, we started to focus ourefforts on negotiations to hold separate pre-meetings.
The persons to contact about this matter weremainly the leaders of both parties. At first, as we
89

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

thought, both leaders had a negative stance towardholding such a series of meetings. Therefore, we began to try to create a relationship of mutual trust between the leaders and us. After that, when we began
to feel that the leaders had trust in us, we began totalk about the four essential points given above.
Eager negotiations were started in about April
2010 and continued for about one year until a decision was made on holding separate pre-meetings.
During this period, the authors tried to maintain telephonic communication with the leaders at least oncea week. And the author also once visited the voluntary
firefighters’ base in Bang Khae District and the Bang
Khae Fire Station in August 2010.
Through these enthusiastic negotiations, theleaders’ stance toward these meetings finally changed
to positive. So, we judged that the minimum requirements for holding the separate pre-meetings weresatisfied, but it was also true that there was no guarantee that such a positive change would occur for theordinary members of both parties.

that their stance before the pre-meetings had alreadyturned positive. The former possibility will be verified
by comparison with the results of [2G] and [3G], andwith the results of [2V] and [3V]. And the latter possibility will be verified by the results of [2G] and [2V].
In particular, if the results of [3G] and [3V] madeit clear that their a posteriori stance on having contact
with each other was not very positive, we then had tojudge whether it was still too early to hold a face-toface discussion as a joint meeting. A full account of
this point will be given in Chapter 3.
2.5 Step 4: Joint meeting
In fact, we ended up by holding a joint meeting. The
details of the joint meeting will be given in Chapter
4. At this joint meeting, we explained the four essential points given above by reporting the results of theprevious questionnaire surveys [2G], [3G], [2V], and[3V]. After that, we spent a lot of time on discussion.
At the end of the joint meeting, we also conducted surveys [4G] and [4V] using the questionnaire
form as a final checkpoint. As we mentioned above,no one has succeeded in holding such a joint meetingand establishing cooperative relations between themin the past. In this sense, the results of [4G] and [4V],
which indicated whether their stance turned positive
or not, have quite a significant meaning and decide
the success or failure of this approach.

2.4 Step 3: Separate pre-meetings
Progressing as described above, we held two separate
pre-meetings in parallel. Needless to say, the purposeof these pre-meetings was to prompt both parties toapprove the holding of a joint meeting. Therefore, inthese pre-meetings, we explained the four essential
points given above, not only by reporting the resultsof previous questionnaire surveys [1G] and [1V], butalso by showing the Regional Firefighting Validity
Map developed in the previous study in order to show
the effect of collaboration on regional fire risk reduction as a simple visualization.
In order to verify the pre-meetings, we conducted surveys using questionnaire forms before andafter these pre-meetings. Questionnaire surveys [2G]
and [2V], as shown in Fig. 1, were conducted to confirm their a priori cognitions, which were not affectedby information provided at the pre-meetings. Furthermore, questionnaire surveys [3G] and [3V] wereconducted to confirm their a posteriori recognitions,which ought to be affected by information provided at
the pre-meetings.
However, if we make a pessimistic interpretation, one possibility was to assume that these premeetings not only influenced their stance but in fact
made their stance negative. Another possibility was

3. SEPARATE PRE-MEETING
In this chapter, we will describe the details of two
separate pre-meetings. Firstly, in (3.1), we will explain what kinds of information were presented at the
pre-meetings. Further, in (3.2), we will give details of
the results of the questionnaire survey.
3.1 Contents of the pre-meetings
As Table 2 shows, pre-meetings were held separately
for the governmental firefighters and the voluntary
firefighters. But the contents of both were exactly thesame.
At the beginning, questionnaire surveys [2G] and[2V] were conducted to grasp the a priori recognitions.
After that, we made a summary report of theresults of previous questionnaire surveys [1G] and[1V], focusing on points (2a), (2b), and (2c) as shown
90

VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION

Date
Place
Number ofparticipants*

Table 2 Outline of the pre-meetings
Governmental Firefighter Side
Voluntary Firefighter Side
June 6, 2011 / 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
June 5, 2011 / 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Conference room in Bang Khae Fire Station
Bang Khae voluntary fire base
22

42

1. Questionnaire survey [2G]
1. Questionnaire survey [2V]
2. Summary report of previous questionnaire surveys [1G] and [1V](2a) Both parties recognized their own advantages and disadvantages. And it seems thatboth were complementary to each other, and that the collaboration was fairly efficient.
(2b) Both parties had a fairly negative attitude toward collaboration with each other.
(2c) Both parties had a common public spirit of “saving as many lives as possible.”
3. Explanation of the effectiveness of collaboration (using the Regional Firefighting Validity
ContentsMap)(3a) Actual situation of firefighting validity in this area.
(3b) The 7 essential problems with collaboration scenarios to improve the actual situation.
(3c) The effectiveness of the above collaboration on regional fire risk reduction.
4. Others
5. Discussion
6. Questionnaire survey [3G]
6. Questionnaire survey [3V]
7. Commemorative photograph
8. Lunch*Note: This number means just the respondents of the questionnaire surveys. In fact, there was a bigger audience
than these numbers.
in Table 2, while screening slides. The graphs in theseslides were exactly the same as reported in the previous paper. This part may be reworded as providing
information on “Point 1” mentioned in the previous
chapter.
Moreover, we explained the effectiveness ofcollaboration between the governmental firefighters and the voluntary firefighters, using the Regional
Firefighting Validity Map. In this part, seven essential
problems for the improvement of firefighting validity
in this area were proposed, as shown in Table 3, withseven collaboration scenarios corresponding to eachproblem. In addition, the effectiveness of each collaboration scenario was shown as a map as comparedwith the actual situation. Because we do not haveenough space to show every map, we will introduce atypical example, Fig. 3, which indicates the effectiveness under the condition in which all scenarios are executed completely. That is to say, Fig. 3 (1) indicatesthe amount of cumulative spraying water under actual
conditions, and Fig. 3 (2) indicates the amount under
the condition where every scenario is executed completely. This amount is defined as the total amount ofwater supplied by both governmental firefighting andvoluntary firefighting at given time TV. In Fig. 3, TV
is 30 minutes. Additionally, Fig. 3(3) indicates thedifference between Fig. 3(1) and Fig. 3(2). In Fig. 3,
it can be easily seen that collaboration produces a remarkable improvement in [cumulative spraying wateramount]. For further details of the method of mapping, see the previous paper (Sripramai et al., 2011).
At any rate, this part may be reworded as providing
information on “Point 2” mentioned in the previous
chapter.
Next, we presented some other topics that we
expected the participants to have interest in, for example, the fire volunteer system in Japan, recent disasters, and so forth.
Some of the questions and answers in the discussion period were not so negative, but were permeatedwith their hopes and anxieties. What should be emphasized is that all their comments in the discussion
period were based on a good understanding of theabove information regarding “Point 1” and “Point
2.” After that, to grasp the a priori recognitions, we
also conducted questionnaire surveys [3G] and [3V].
91

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

cumulative spraying
water amount at 30min. (litter)(1) Actual situation

cumulative spraying
water amount at 30min. (litter)(2) Under the collaboration scenario (all)increment (litter)(3) Increment

Fig. 3 An example of the Regional Firefighting Validity Map to show the effectiveness of collaboration

In the end, to cultivate mutual friendship, we took acommemorative photograph and talked about various
topics over lunch.

said that a great number of respondents of both parties
thought before that collaboration was effective, but
this number increased obviously after the pre-meetings. It may be said, at least, that this increase resulted
from providing information on “Point 2” mentioned
in the previous chapter.
In contrast, although such obvious changes cannot be confirmed more clearly from their impressions
in Fig. 4(3), their impressions were not so negative.
On the other hand, according to Fig. 4(4), it canbe seen that their cognition about the possibility of
establishing a cooperative relationship was rather low[before*] and [before]. However, it is quite clear that
their cognition changed to one of great hope after
these pre-meetings. We can say that the cause of thisgreat change was these pre-meetings with statistically significant difference, and that it was here that
we succeeded in providing information on “Point 3”
mentioned in the previous chapter.
This upward tendency in their positive opinions
can also be confirmed in Fig. 4(5). Namely, both parties began to want contact with the other party morestrongly. According to these results, we judged that it
was here that we succeeded in providing information
on “Point 4” mentioned in the previous chapter, andthat both parties had changed and were now ready fora joint meeting as a next step.

3.2 Changes of their cognition
Figure 4 shows the results of five questions on thesesurveys. In this figure, the results of the governmentalside are shown on the left-hand side of the row, andthe results of the volunteer side are on the right-handside of the row. In this figure, the results of surveys[2G] and [2V] are indicated as [before], and the results of surveys [3G] and [3V] are indicated as [after].
These graphs are arranged vertically in order to makeit easier to understand the change of each question
before and after.
According to Fig. 4(1), it is clear that both thegovernmental firefighters and the voluntary firefighters thought, not only on [after] but also [before], thatthe most fundamental public spirit of “saving life”
was the same as each other’s. It is likely that one of
the reasons that their cognitions [before], corresponding to “Point 1” mentioned in the previous chapter,
had already become desirable was that the leaders
who had already recognized this before through ournegotiations had broadcasted information to othermembers.
Continuously, according to Fig. 4(2), it can be
92

VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION[Governmental Firefighters]
0%

20%

40%

60%

[Voluntary Firefighters]

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

(1) Do you think that both sides’ fundamental public spirit of ‘saving lives’ is the same?
[Before][After]p=0.500

4.54.590.9

n=22

4.5 9.1

86.4

n=22

p=0.500

5.02.5

92.5

n=40

5.1

94.9

n=39

(2) Do you think that a cooperative relationship between both sides is effective?
[Before][After]44.8
4.8
p=0.016**
9.1

23.8

28.6

42.9

n=21
n=22

68.2

22.7

p=0.064*

23.7
7.7

21.1

n=38

55.3

30.8

n=39

61.5

(3) Are you favorably impressed with the other party?
[Before][After]p=0.141

9.1

9.1 n=22

22.7

59.1
47.6

9.5

n=21

14.3

n=21

42.9

p=0.221

5.0

52.5

20

n=40

26.3

n=38

22.5

52.6

21.1

(4) Do you think that establishing a cooperative relationship is possible?
[Before*]p=0.422[Before] p=0.000***[After]p=0.000***
9.1

38.1

9.5

28.6

38.1

9.5

33.3

22.7

9.5

14.3

p=0.297
4.8 n=21 p=0.000***
p=0.000***

n=22

68.2

18.4

10.5

13.2

n=38

59.0

5.1 10.3

12.8

12.8

n=39

30.8

53.8

7.9

50.0

15.4

n=39

(5) Do you want contact with the other party?
[Before*]p=0.009***[Before] p=0.004***
p=0.063*[After]

14.3

9.5

27.3
14.3

23.8

9.5

18.2
14.3

42.9

n=21

54.5

n=22 p=0.001***
n=21

71.4

26.3

p=0.083*5.1

p=0.003***

15.4

33.3

15.8 2.6

55.3

n=38

10.3

51.3

n=39

17.9

66.7

No
Rather No Neutral
Rather Yes[Before*] : Opinions or impressions expressed before pre-meeting by looking back over the past. Legend:[Before] : Opinions or impressions expressed after pre-meeting by looking at the future.
n: Number of samples[After] : Opinions or impressions expressed after pre-meeting by looking at the future.
p: p-value for Wilcoxon signed Ranks Test (1-tailed) [2]

n=39

Yes

Fig. 4 Results of the surveys before and after the pre-meetings

4. JOINT MEETING

giving the impression to the other members that bothparties were on an equal footing in this meeting. The
key persons were not overbearing, but always tried topromote constructive discussions. At the beginning, inorder to break the ice, we suggested that all the members introduce themselves.
After that, we made a summary report of theresults of previous questionnaire surveys [2G], [2V],[3G], and [3V], while screening slides. The shapesof the graphs in these slides were exactly the sameas Fig. 4. The role of this part was not only a simple
summary report, but to notify that each party’s superordinate perspectives for collaboration were exactly
the same in terms of the above essential points from
1 to 4. In brief, we tried to make them notice that a
prejudice against the other party without mutual understanding, like in the past, was quite shortsighted
and unproductive for regional fire risk reduction.
Furthermore, we also emphasized that it is quite difficult to find any reasons why both parties do not try toestablish a cooperative relationship, looking at thesesurvey results as a third party. At this time, if such asummary had appeared an exaggeration to them, theywould then have complained about it. However, inpractice, most members do agree with it.

At the beginning of this approach, we were concernedthat both the governmental firefighters and the voluntary firefighters would enter an altercation if they met
together abruptly in such a joint meeting. However,it was confirmed without doubt by the surveys on the
pre-meetings that both were ready for a joint meeting.
Consequently, we finally took the plunge and held ajoint meeting. The purpose of this joint meeting wasto verify their superordinate perspectives for collaboration, and to discuss how to solve subordinate problems.
4.1 Contents of the joint meetings
As shown in Table 4, both the governmental firefighters in Bang Khae Fire Station and the voluntary firefighters in Bang Khae District met together
openly for the first time in a conference room. Key
persons of both parties also took part in this meeting.
The key person of the voluntary group was the Bang
Khae District former counselor, and the key person of
the governmental firefighters was the chief of Bang
Khae Fire Station. We asked them to sit side by sidein front of the other members, with the intention of93

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

No.
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Table 3 The 7 essential problems and collaboration scenario introduced at the pre-meetings
Problem
Example of the collaboration scenario
Time loss by misunderstanding the emergency
Both the governmental firefighters and the voltelephone number
untary firefighters can receive an emergency call__In 2003, it was changed from “191” to “199.”
immediately at the same time.
But more than a few people do not know it.
Serious traffic congestion(It is quite difficult to resolve immediately.)__It causes a delay of fire engine arrival.
Obstruction of a fire engine’s movement__a) Illegal parking on local streets
Almost all cars make way for the official fire en__b) Crowd of volunteers’ cars in front of a fire gines.
site
Impossibility of putting fire hydrants to use__a) Breakdown of hydrants
Both the governmental firefighters and the volun__b) Shops or street stalls often hide hydrants.
tary firefighters maintain them jointly at ordinary__c)Voluntary firefighters who come earlier thantimes, and the official firefighters take preceofficial firefighters often keep the hydrant todence.
themselves. So, the official firefighters cannot
connect to it.
Time loss for gathering information at the site offire
The voluntary firefighters who arrive earlier re__After arriving at a site of fire, official firefight- port the state of fire to the governmental firefighters have to spend time researching conditions ers who arrive later.
and gathering information.
Lack of human resources for watching out fortheft of firefighting equipment
The voluntary firefighters perform backward sup__For this reason, a loss of 2 or 3 human resourcport of the governmental firefighters.
es from the official firefighting team causes a
decline in the efficiency of official firefighting.
Lack of volunteers’ equipment__The volunteers’ equipment for extinguishing is
The number of fire engines with a water tank is tohardly sufficient. In particular, when there are
be increased in each voluntary base.
no hydrants available, then most volunteers
have nothing to do with the fire extinguishing.

Subsequently, we represented the seven essential
problems and the collaboration scenarios to improve
the actual situation as mentioned in the previous chapter and Table 3. The role of this part was to suggest
some subordinate immediate solutions to realize a superordinate perspective for collaboration. We started
the discussion part by this re-presentation.
Finally, we also conducted questionnaire survey ([4G] and [4V]) as a final checkpoint. In the lastplace, to cultivate mutual friendship between them,
we took a commemorative photograph, and talked
about various topics over lunch.

4.2 Their own proposals
At this joint meeting, there were many discussions
about the above seven essential problems and the collaboration scenarios shown in Table 3. These discussions were mostly positive and constructive. Moreover, both parties came to an agreement regarding theabove collaboration scenarios. What must be notedis that both parties proposed many original concrete
ideas as follows beyond the collaboration scenariosthat the authors presented as a starting point for discussion.

94

VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION

Date
Place
Number ofparticipants*

Table 4 Outline of the joint meeting
Governmental Firefighter Side
Voluntary Firefighter Side
June 8, 2011 / 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Conference room in Bang Khae Fire Station
23

15

1. Self-introduction
2. Summary report of previous questionnaire surveys [2G], [2V], [3G], and [3V]
3. Re-presentation the 7 essential problems with the collaboration scenarios to improve theactual situation
Contents
4. Discussion
5. Questionnaire survey [4G]4. Questionnaire survey [4V]
6. Commemorative photograph
7. Lunch*Note: This number means just the respondents of the questionnaire surveys. In fact, there was a larger audience
than these numbers.

ernmental fire engine can go smoothly.

4.2.1 Time loss by misunderstanding the emergency telephone number
In the past, “191” was the emergency telephone
number for both the police and in the case of fire.
However, since November 1, 2003, this emergency
telephone number was separated into “191 (police)”and “199 (fire station).” Nonetheless, there is still atendency for many people to dial “191” when a fire
accident occurs because of insufficient announcementof this change. Both parties understood that a fullannouncement was the duty of governmental firefighting. Nonetheless, the members of this voluntary
firefighting group proposed that the voluntary firefighters should also play a large part in disseminating
this fact, on the grounds that the voluntary firefighters
were closer to the communities than the governmental
firefighters.

4.2.3 Obstruction of governmental fire engines’
movement and activities
At this meeting, both came to an agreement that thevolunteers should not obstruct the governmental fireengines’ movement and activities. Besides this, thefire volunteers proposed that the volunteers who could
arrive earlier should prepare the own fire hose to beready when the official water supply truck reaches thefire scene.
4.2.4 Time loss for gathering information at thesite of fire
They came to an agreement that if it were possible
for both parties to have a joint radio communication
channel as mentioned above, then both could relay
messages to each other. For example, the fire volunteer who arrives at the fire scene first can describe thesituation to the governmental fire officers who canthen suggest how to deal with the situation while they
are on the way.

4.2.2 Serious traffic congestion
Generally, in Bangkok, serious traffic congestion
leads to fatal delay of the governmental firefighting
arrival at the fire scene. At this point, it is true that thevoluntary group has the advantage of not only being
able to arrive at the fire scene earlier than the governmental firefighters but also being well versed in local
road networks. Before this meeting, we thought that
it would be difficult to find any measures. However,both parties worked out an original measure as follows. If it were possible for both parties to have ajoint radio communication channel, the fire volunteers
could then suggest the route through which the gov-

4.2.5 Lack of human resources to watch out for thetheft of firefighting equipment
It was true that governmental firefighting equipment
has often been stolen by somebody pretending to bea general public member or to be even a voluntary
firefighter. For watching out for such theft, lack ofhuman resources from the governmental firefighting
team was unavoidable in the past. At this meeting,95

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

both came to an agreement that some of the voluntary
firefighters should play a part in watching out, andgovernmental firefighter should concentrate on extinguishment activities.
Additionally, the leader of the voluntary groupsuggested the inspection of newcomers to avoid thewrongful recruitment of unsuitable people. Furthermore, the voluntary firefighters themselves suggested
that there should be a volunteer’s ID card for every
volunteer participating in fire-extinguishing procedures. Such concrete proposals seemed to be valuable
in cultivating mutual trust.

more, what Fig. 5(2) makes clear is that both parties
also had a strong will to solve some subordinate andimmediate problems. It can be considered that thisstrong will is the result of various factors, such as the
positive and constructive discussions mentioned in
the previous section. From this viewpoint, we may
conclude that the intended purpose of this approach at
the beginning was satisfied.
The following are some summarizations of typical replies to the open-ended question. The following
replies are sure to authenticate the above conclusion.
The most important point is that many participants thought highly of these meetings. According tothese replies, before this series of meetings, hardly
any of the participants understood that both parties
had the same fundamental stance on helping people.
However, through the series of these meetings, bothbegan to listen to the other party’s opinion regarding what they want. Additionally, some participants
replied that if these meetings had not been launched,then neither party would have had any chance to gather in unity of purpose in a situation of conflict anddiscord.
In particular, what needs to be emphasized is thatmost of them desired to have more meetings and continue the discussion with each other. They also repliedthat they had never talked and analyzed the problems
in their own communities with each other in the past.
This may be the reason why continuous meetings are
required by both parties.
As a whole, there were a lot of opinions of approbation regarding the several collaboration scenarios and so forth as mentioned in (4.2). Additionally,some of them replied that practical firefighting training with each other was also required.
Only at the very end, to cultivate mutual friendship between them, we took a commemorative photograph and talked about various topics over lunch.
After that, this meeting broke up in a very friendly

4.2.6 Lack of volunteers’ equipment
In fact, it is difficult to increase a number of fire engines with a water tank in each voluntary base all at
once. Therefore, both parties came to an agreementthat both parties would try to perform their duties incooperation with each other. In particular, they alsoreached the agreement that the firefighters would
allow the volunteers to use some of the official fire
equipment at the fire site within a relationship of mutual trust. Incidentally, when the fire volunteers needto borrow equipment from the governmental fire officers, they can use the above ID card as a guarantee forthe loss of equipment. However, they also suggested
that there would be no need to use these ID cards on
condition that they have full trust in each other in thelong run.
4.3 Their perspective for collaboration
At the end of the joint meeting, we also conductedquestionnaire survey ([4G] and [4V]) as a final checkpoint. It was quite a simple survey that contains only
two questions as shown in Fig. 5. Moreover, most of
this survey was devoted to an open-ended question.
According to Fig. 5(1), it is clear that both parties had a fundamental agreement on establishing acooperative relationship with each other. Further-[Governmental Firefighters]
0%(1) Do you agree that both sides should try
to establish a cooperative relationship?

20%

40%

60%

[Voluntary Firefighters]

80%

100% 0%

87.0

13.0

20%

6.7

40%

60%

Legend:(n=15)
10.2
13.3

78.3

86.7

(n=23)

No

Rather No

Neutral(n=15)

Rather Yes

Fig. 5 Results of the survey after the joint meeting
96

100%

93.3

(n=23)(2) Do you think that it is possible to solve
4.3 17.4
some subordinate matters for achievement?

80%

Yes

(n: Number of samples)VERIFICATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO REALIZING A COOPERATIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR REGIONAL FIRE RISK REDUCTION

atmosphere.

of the details of their history before this approach,such cooperative relations between them had seemed
impossible. However, we may say that the strategy,
which was devised as essential points from 1 to 4 according to an investigation of actual conditions, washelpful in solving this chronic problem peculiar tothis district.
Turning now to the above strategy, far from being limited to the topic of fire risk reduction in this
district, it might have wide application. That is to say,
if we had concentrated on solving the subordinate
immediate problems shortsightedly without their
cognitions of both the superordinate purpose and thecontext connecting the superordinate purpose to thesubordinate solutions, then neither party could haveapproved the subordinate solutions shown in Table
3. In other words, we can compare the past situation
to the proverb “cannot see the forest for the trees.”
Needless to say, in this case, the word “forest” corresponds to the common public spirit of “saving as
many lives as possible” as a superordinate purpose,and the word “tree” corresponds to the subordinate
immediate problems shown in Table 3. In brief, without unity of fundamental purpose, it is mostly impossible to solve any immediate conflict or discord withthe parties concerned. Moreover, what should also
be emphasized is that several questionnaire survey
reports for both parties played an important role in anunderstanding of the other party’s opinion, and thatvisualization by the Regional Firefighting Validity
Map made it possible for them to understand how effective a certain measure was in the achievement of
the united purpose. In fact, all materials shown at the
pre-meetings were designed to make it easy for thegeneral public to understand.[3] However, even if thesematerials had been distributed separately without
explanation, they would not have been able to reachsuch a good understanding. At least, in this case, it isconsidered that it was significant that one coordinatorexplained the message consistently regarding points 1,
2, 3, and 4 as one package using the above effective
tools.
In this sense, we should mention the requirements for researchers or outsiders who try to manage
such a project. Firstly, it is considered that a fair attitude toward each party is necessary. Furthermore, endeavor toward the common public spirit is important.
Secondly, ability to provide objective knowledge and

4.4 Continuity for collaboration
Additionally, we should also mention continuity. It
has been reported that it often happened that the outcome of a certain practical activity, such as our approach, came to naught just because the prime moversuspended the activity (Katada et al., 2011). On theother hand, after the joint meeting, far from being
fruitless, the effect of our practical approach spreadin various ways as follows. According to some interviews with both leaders in August 2011, both of themhad already started to put the several ideas shown in
Table 3 into practice to the extent possible. Above all,both have come to try to build a closer connection
with each other, such as close teamwork at a fire site,calling each other by name, and so forth. Furthermore, a fire drill at an elementary school and so forth
was executed under collaboration between them. Incidentally, in the past, the number of participants at theabove fire drill was usually about five persons from
Bang Khae Fire Station while there was no one fromthe voluntary firefighting groups. On the other hand,almost thirty persons from Bang Khae Fire Station
and almost seventy persons from the voluntary firefighting groups participate in the fire drill at present.
After such fire drills, many groups of schoolchildren
started making field trips to the Bang Khae Fire Station with teachers, and both the governmental fire
officers and the voluntary firefighters started to deal
positively with such visitors. We heard that this wasquite a rare situation not only in Bang Khae District,but also in the whole of Bangkok’s history. Becauseof this, this approach is attracting many people’s attention, such as a number of voluntary firefighters andgovernmental fire officers in the whole of Bangkok,
the headman of Bang Khae District, the deputy governor of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, andso forth.
5. CONCLUSION
It follows from what has been discussed thus far thatthe intended purpose of this approach has been satisfied. Namely, there is no doubt that this approach has
prompted both the governmental firefighters and thevoluntary firefighters in this area to establish cooperative relations for regional fire risk reduction. In view97

K. SRIPRAMAI, Y. OIKAWA, H. WATANABE, T. KATADA

information is also required. Finally, the confidenceof each party is essential. Fortunately, it can be said
that the authors met the above requirements.
A future direction of this study will be to investigate the method or strategy to be expanded widely not
only throughout Bangkok and Thailand, but also tocertain regions in the world whose official firefighting
ability is insufficient. The point of this investigation
will be whether the practical approach should be executed in much the same way as the case of Bang Khae
District or not. However, if we focus within Bangkok,
we expect that it will be simpler. That is to say, it islikely that it is sufficient to introduce only the processof the Bang Khae District as a pilot case study to thepersons concerned in the future subject area, because
most of these persons in Bangkok already have interest in this matter of Bang Khae District. In this sense,
we may say that an investigation of an effective publicity strategy will become to be significant in Bangkok.

seem exceptionally shady. Most voluntary group leaders far from being like a feudal lord, and are gaining
the members’ confidence.
[2] These statistics are the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (Wilcoxon, 1945). It is a non-parametric statistical hypothesis test. It can be applied to the comparison of a pairof samples whose measurement scale is ordinal.
[3] For example, only by reading the differences in thecolors, the general public can easily see not only which
location is most safe (or unsafe) against fire, but also
how effective the collaboration between official andvoluntary firefighting is. For more information, see theprevious study (Sripramai et al., 2011).

REFERENCES
AUDMP, ADPC. 2003. Reducing Fire Threats to Homes:
Piloting Community-based Fire Risk Assessment in
Ban Hatsady Village. Safer Cities 9, Case studies on
mitigating disasters in Asia and the Pacific.
Azuma, S. 2009. President Obama’s Sense for Language,

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

70-89. NHK Publishing Co., Ltd. (in Japanese).
Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. 2007. Act 2007, RoyalWe would like to express our grateful thanks forthe valuable contribution of governmental fire officers
and fire volunteers in Bang Khae District, Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration, who kindly supported
our project.

Gazette, General Release No. 124, Part 52A, dated
September 7, 2007.
Katada, T., Kanai, M., Kodama, M., and Oikawa, Y. 2011.
Development of Evacuation System for Huge River
Flooding by Workshop. Journal of Japan Society of
Civil Engineers, Ser. F5 (Professional Practices in

NOTE:

Civil Engineering), Vol. 67, No. 1, 14-22.
Khunteetao, S. 2007. Ethics of the Volunteers in a Relief
Agency: A Case Study of the Ruamkatanyu Founda-[1] Most of the voluntary firefighters tend to think themselves more capable than the official firefighters, andtion. Master’s thesis, Mahidol University (in Thai).

most of the official firefighters also tend to think them-

Sripramai, K., Oikawa, Y., Watanabe, H., and Katada, T.

selves more capable than the voluntary firefighters.

2011. A Study on a Cooperative Relationship to theIt can be considered that the reason why both parties

Improvement of the Regional Fire Fighting Validity -had been in conflict for a long time was that the above

Case Study in Bangkok, Thailand -. Journal of Japansituation continued because of the lack of exchange

Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. F5 (Professional Prac-between them. For more information about the details

tices in Civil Engineering), Vol. 67, No. 1, 55-66.

and background, see the previous study (Sripramai et

Wilcoxon, F. 1945. Individual Comparisons by Ranking
Methods. Biometrics Bulletin, Vol. 1, 80-83.

al., 2011). Incidentally, with the leader’s agreement,
most residents can join the voluntary group unless they98