Extract of the 2016
White Paper on Fire Service

Materials created by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency wereextracted and translated by the International Fire Service Information Center

Fire and Disaster Management Agency(FDMA)

FY2016 Firefighting White Paper – Extract – Table of Contents
Chapter 1

Current Status and Challenges for Disasters ................................................................... 1

Section 1 Fire Prevention ......................................................................................................................... 1[Current Status and Recent Trends with Fires] White Paper P.38- 39 .............................................. 1[Current Status of Fire Prevention Administration] White Paper P.59-73 ........................................ 3
1. Current Status of Residential Fire Prevention Measures ............................................................ 3
2. Fire Prevention Properties .......................................................................................................... 4
3. Fire Prevention Management System ........................................................................................ 5(1) Fire Protection Managers ...................................................................................................... 5(2) Supervisors of Fire Protection Management ......................................................................... 5(3) Periodic Inspection and Reporting System for Fire Prevention Properties ............................ 6
4. Disaster Prevention Management System ................................................................................. 8(1) Disaster Protection Managers ............................................................................................... 8(2) Supervisors of Disaster Protection Management .................................................................. 9
5. Onsite Inspections and Corrections of Violations ..................................................................... 10(1) Current Status for Onsite Inspections and Corrections of Violations ................................... 10(2) Initiation of the New Fire Safety Certification Mark System................................................. 10(3) Initiation of a System for Publicly Announcing Violating Properties ..................................... 10
6. Fire Defence Equipment etc. .................................................................................................... 12(1) Current Status of Fire Prevention Approval ......................................................................... 12(2) Current Status for the Installation of Fire Defence Equipment etc. ..................................... 12(3) Fire Protection Engineers and Fire Protection Inspectors ................................................... 12(4) Flame Retardancy Regulations ........................................................................................... 14(5) Regulations for Equipment and Tools that Use Fire ............................................................ 15
7. Inspection System for Fire Protection Machinery and Tools etc. .............................................. 15(1) Inspections .......................................................................................................................... 15(2) Self-labeling ........................................................................................................................ 15
8. Performance Inspections of Technical Standard for Fire Defence Equipment etc. ................... 16
9. Current Status of Investigations into the Causes of Fires ......................................................... 16
10. Promoting Countermeasures to Product Fires ......................................................................... 17
11. Promoting Fire Prevention Measures at Outdoor Event Venues .............................................. 18
Section 2 Countermeasures to Disasters at Facilities for Hazardous Materials................................ 19[Current Status and Recent Trends in Disasters at Facilities for Hazardous Materials] White Paper
P.76-79 ................................................................................................................................................. 19
1. Fire Accidents ........................................................................................................................... 19(1) Number of Fire Accidents at Facilities for Hazardous Materials and the Damage Done ..... 19(2) Causative Factors behind the Fire Accidents at Facilities for Hazardous Materials ............ 20(3) Fire Accidents at Unauthorized Facilities ............................................................................ 20(4) Fire Accidents during the Transportation of Hazardous Materials ....................................... 21(5) Fire Accidents during Temporary Storage or Handling ........................................................ 21
2. Spillage Accidents .................................................................................................................... 21(1) Number of Spillage Accidents at Facilities for Hazardous Materials and the Damage Done21(2) Causative Factors behind the Spillage Accidents at Facilities for Hazardous Materials ...... 21(3) Spillage Accidents at Unauthorized Facilities ...................................................................... 21(4) Spillage Accidents during the Transportation of Hazardous Materials................................. 22[Current Status of Hazardous Materials Administration] White Paper P.79-85 ............................. 23
1. Regulations on Hazardous Materials ........................................................................................ 23(1) Regulatory Structure for Hazardous Materials .................................................................... 23(2) Recent Status for Hazardous Material Regulations............................................................. 24(3) Current Status of Facilities for Hazardous Materials ........................................................... 25i(4) Hazardous Material Engineers ............................................................................................ 25(5) Establishment of Safety Systems at Business Establishments ........................................... 27(6) Safety Inspections ............................................................................................................... 27(7) Onsite Inspections and Orders ............................................................................................ 28
2. Securing Petroleum Pipelines .................................................................................................. 28(1) Safety Regulations for the Petroleum Pipeline Business .................................................... 28(2) Ensuring the Safety of Petroleum Pipelines ........................................................................ 28
Section 3 Countermeasures to Disasters at Petroleum Industrial Complexes .................................. 29[Current Status and Recent Trends in Disasters at Petroleum Industrial Complexes] White Paper
P.86-87 ................................................................................................................................................. 29
1. Number of Accidents and Damage ........................................................................................... 29
2. Characteristics of Accidents ..................................................................................................... 29(1) Number of Accidents by the Classification of Specified Business Establishments .............. 29(2) Number of Accidents at Specified Business Establishments by Business Category ........... 29[Current Status of Damage Countermeasures at Petroleum Industrial Complexes] White Paper
P.87-91 ................................................................................................................................................. 29
1. Current Status of Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Special Disaster Prevention Areas............................................................................................................................................... 31
2. Disaster Prevention Structures at Prefectures and Firefighting Agencies................................. 31(1) Establishing Disaster Prevention Schemes ......................................................................... 31(2) Responses Measures when Disasters Occur ..................................................................... 31(3) Maintaining the Firefighting Capabilities of Municipalities Containing Special Disaster
Prevention Areas ...................................................................................................................... 31
3. Disaster Prevention Structures at Specified Business Establishments .................................... 32(1) Establishing Disaster Prevention Organizations for Self-defense ....................................... 32(2) Equipping High Capacity Foam Systems ............................................................................ 33(3) Enhancing Disaster Prevention Structures for Self-defense ............................................... 33
4. Layout Regulations for Business Establishments ..................................................................... 33(1) Layout Regulations ............................................................................................................. 33(2) Status for New Establishment and Other Notifications ........................................................ 34
5. Other Disaster Countermeasures ............................................................................................. 34(1) Establishing Disaster Response Structures ........................................................................ 34(2) Establishing Green Buffer Zones for Disaster Prevention ................................................... 34
Chapter 2Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities ........................................... 35

Section 1 Fire Defense Structures White Paper Page 134-137 ............................................................ 35
1. Fire Defense Organizations ...................................................................................................... 35(1) Standing Firefighting Agencies ............................................................................................ 35(2) Volunteer Fire Corps ........................................................................................................... 35
2. Fire and Disaster Defense Facilities ......................................................................................... 37(1) Maintenance of Fire Trucks and Other Equipment .............................................................. 37(2) Fire Defense Communication Equipment ............................................................................ 37(3) Water Sources for Firefighting ............................................................................................. 38
Section 4 Education and Training Structures White Paper Page166-171 ........................................... 40
1. Education and Training for Firefighters ..................................................................................... 40
2. On-the-job Training ................................................................................................................... 40
3. Education and Training at Fire Academies ............................................................................... 40(1) Establishment of Fire Academies ........................................................................................ 40(2) Types of Education and Training ......................................................................................... 40(3) Enhancing and Strengthening the Education and Training at Fire Academies .................... 41(4) Holding of Education and Training ...................................................................................... 41(5) Teaching Faculty ................................................................................................................. 41ii

4. Education and Training and Technical Assistance at the Fire and Disaster Management
College ................................................................................................................................... 42(1) Facilities and Equipment ..................................................................................................... 42(2) Holding of Education and Training ...................................................................................... 42(3) Technical Assistance for Fire Academies ............................................................................ 44(4) Special Lectures.................................................................................................................. 45
5. Other Education and Training ................................................................................................... 45(1) Fostering Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) ............................................................. 45(2) Fostering Lead EMTs .......................................................................................................... 45
Section 5 Emergency Medical Service Structures White Paper P.172-181 ......................................... 46
1. Implementation of Emergency Medical Services ...................................................................... 46(1) Emergency Medical Service Mobilization ............................................................................ 46(2) People Transported by the Severity of Their Injury or Illness .............................................. 46(3) People Transported by Ambulance by Age Group and Type of Accident ............................ 46(4) People Transported for Sudden Illnesses by Type of Illness ............................................... 46(5) Time Required to Arrive at the Scene.................................................................................. 46(6) Time Required to Check the Patient into a Hospital ............................................................ 46(7) First-aid Treatment Administered by Ambulance Crew Members ........................................ 51
2. Implementation Structure for Emergency Medical Services ..................................................... 51(1) Number of Municipalities Offering Emergency Medical Services ........................................ 51(2) Number of Emergency Medical Crews and Emergency Medical Crew Members ............... 51(3) Trends in the Number of EMTs and Medical Crews with EMTs ........................................... 53(4) Number of Ambulances ....................................................................................................... 53(5) Emergency Medical Services along National and Other Expressways ............................... 53
3. Promoting Coordination between Firefighting and Medical Care .............................................. 54(1) Acceptance of People Receiving Emergency Transport at Medical Institutions .................. 54(2) Standards on Patient Transport and Their Acceptance ....................................................... 54(3) Emergency Medical Care Structure .................................................................................... 55
Section 6 Rescue Structures White Paper P.191-193 ......................................................................... 57
1. Implementation Status for Rescue Activities............................................................................. 57(1) Number of Rescue Activities and Number of People Rescued ........................................... 57(2) Implementation Status of Rescue Activities by Type of Incident.......................................... 57
2. Implementation Structure for Rescue Activities ........................................................................ 57(1) Number of Rescue Crews and Number of Rescue Crew Members .................................... 57(2) Ownership Status of Rescue Equipment for Rescue Activities ........................................... 58
3. Holding National Firefighting and Rescue Skills Meets ............................................................ 59
Section 8 Wide-area Joint Firefighting Support and Emergency Fire Response Teams White Paper
P.202-209 ................................................................................................................................. 60
1. Wide-area Joint Support for Firefighting – Omitted .................................................................. 60
2. Emergency Fire Response Teams............................................................................................ 60(1) Creation of the Emergency Fire Response Teams and Their Enshrinement in Law via
Revisions to the Fire Organization Act...................................................................................... 60(2) Organization of and Mobilization Plans for Emergency Fire Response Teams ................... 63(3) Number of Emergency Fire Response Teams Registered and Their Equipment ................ 67
Attachment
Attachment 6
Attachement 32
Attachment 34

Extent of fire damage by prefecture White Paper P.288-290 ........................................ 69
Trends in the number of firefighting agencies and volunteer firefighters White Paper
P.314 ............................................................................................................................ 72
Trends in the number of facilities for hazardous materials White Paper P.316 ............. 73

iii

Chapter 1

Current Status and Challenges for Disasters

Section1
Chapter 1
Section 1

Fire Prevention

Current Status and Challenges for Disasters
Fire Prevention

number of fires in 2005). Furthermore, the number offatalities from fires has also largely been trending
downward since 2005, when the number registered came
to 2,195. The number of fatalities from fires in 2015
came to 1,563, a decrease of 115 (6.9%) compared withthe previous year. This was 71.2% of the number fromten years prior (the number of fatalities in 2005) (Fig. 11-1, Table 1-1-1).

[ Current Status and Recent Trends with Fires][Current Status and Recent Trends with Fires] White Paper P.38- 39

Looking at the number of fires over the past ten years
reveals that this number has largely been trending
downwards since 2005, when the number was 57,460.
The number of fires that occurred in 2015 came to 39,111,
falling by 4,630 (10.6%) compared to the previous year,
which is 68.1% of the number from ten years prior (theFig. 1-1-1

Changes in the number of fires and their trends

1

Table 1-1-1

Status of fires(During each year)(Notes)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

9
10
11
12
13
14
15

16
17

Prepared from Fire Reports
The figures for each year are calculations of the fires that occurred between January - December. The same holds true in this section hereafter
unless otherwise noted.
“Building fires” refer to fires that burn buildings or the contents contained therein. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise
noted.
“Vehicle fires” refer to fires that burn automotive vehicles, railway vehicles, trailer vehicles, or their cargo. The same holds true in this section
hereafter unless otherwise noted.
“Forest fires” refer to fires that burn forests, wilderness, or grassland. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
“Ship fires” refer to fires that burn ships or their cargo. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
“Aircraft fires” refer to fires that burn aircraft or their cargo. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
“Other fires” refer to fires other than building fires, vehicle fires, Forest fires, and aircraft fires (fires involving vacant land, fields, roads, flood
plains, waste collection sites, outdoor item collection sites, train tracks, utility poles, etc.). The same holds true in this section hereafter unlessotherwise noted.
Fatalities includes those people who were injured by fires and passed away within 48 hours. The same holds true in this section hereafter unlessotherwise noted.
The fire outbreak rate refers to the number of fires per 10,000 people. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
Amount of damages and so forth include cases that are still under investigation, and so this may change. The same holds true in this section
hereafter unless otherwise noted.
The symbol “−” indicates negative numbers. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
Rate of change was found by rounding up less than whole numbers with the displayed units. The same holds true in this section hereafter unlessotherwise noted.
The population for 2005 was found from the Basic Resident Register as of March 31, while the populations for 2014 and 2015 were found froma survey of the current status of fire prevention and earthquake countermeasures as of March 31 for each year.
If a fire is spread across more than two types of fires, it is aggregated into the number of fires based on which type had the larger amount ofdamages. For the amount of damages, this is aggregated for each type of fire by the objects damaged in the fire (building, vehicle, forest, ship,
aircraft, or other). The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.
The amount of damages from “Explosions” is posted to “Explosions” within “Amount of damages” without regard to the type of fire.
The figures in the total column may not align with the totals for each figure due to rounding. The same holds true in this section hereafter unlessotherwise noted.

2

existing residences, it mandated that said alarms beinstalled in them within all municipalities nationwide
based on the ordinances in each municipality by June
2011. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency(FDMA) held the Committee on Measures to Install
Residential Fire larms. Based on the basic policy
established at this committee, various initiatives were
deployed to ensure that residential fire alarms were
thoroughly installed and maintained. This was done by
the fire defense headquarters throughout Japan incooperation with volunteer fire corps, women’s (female)firefighting clubs, voluntary disaster prevention
organizations, and others. As of June 1, 2016, thenationwide installation rate was 81.2% and the ordinancecompliance rate was 66.5%. When viewed by prefecture,
Fukui Prefecture had the highest installation rate, andIshikawa Prefecture had the highest ordinancecompliance rate. (Table 1-1-26, Attachment 22)[Current Status of Fire Prevention Administration][Current Status of Fire Prevention Administration] White Paper P.59-73

1. Current Status of Residential Fire Prevention Measures
The number of residential fires in 2015 (11,102,
excluding those from arson) accounted for roughly 50%of the number of building fires (20,349, excluding thosefrom arson). What is more, the number of fatalities fromresidential fires (914, excluding suicides by arson),accounts for roughly 80% of the number of fatalities
from building fires (1,086, excluding suicides by arson),with this trend holding steady for more than ten years. In
addition, elderly people age 65 or older account for
approximately 70% of the fatalities from residential fires.
The revision of the Fire Services Act in 2004
mandated that residential fire alarms be installed in
newly-built residences starting from June 2006. As for

Table 1-1-26()

Installation rate of home fire alarms and rate of compliance with regulations
by prefecture (June 1, 2016)(Since this is a sampling study, each of the figures contains a certain degreeof measurement error.)

The numbers in parenthesis show the rank in order starting with the prefectures with the highest installation rates and so forth.

3

2.

fire prevention properties listed in Appended Table I of
the Ordinance of Enforcement for the Fire Services Act
that are listed in (1) through (16-3) and have a total areaof 150m2 or larger, and those listed in (17) through (19));
the same hereafter).
Moreover, the number of fire prevention properties in
the 21 major cities (special wards of Tokyo andordinance-designated cities) came to 1,122,214,
accounting for 27.7% of the total fire prevention
properties throughout Japan. Those properties that are
particularly concentrated in urban areas include
underground malls (87.3% of the national total), semiunderground malls* 2 (85.7% of the national total),
stores engaged in sex-related businesses (48.2% of thenational total), and so on (Table 1-1-27).

Fire Prevention Properties

The Fire Services Act defines the primary properties
that are eligible for fire prevention administration, suchas architectural structures, as “fire prevention properties.”
It also mandates that personnel structures for fire
prevention be established, fire defence equipment etc.* 1
be installed, and flame retardant goods be used at thosefire prevention properties listed in Appended Table I of
the Ordinance of Enforcement for the Fire Services Act
according to their purpose, size, and so forth.
As of March 31, 2016, the number of fire prevention
properties throughout Japan came to 4,052,581 (this is
the number obtained from the Survey on the Actual
Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties (targeting those
Table 1-1-27

Number of fire prevention properties

Classification of fire prevention properties Nationwide
(1)

(2)

Theaters, etc.

4,471

662

14.8

b

Public halls, etc.

66,342

6,281

9.5

a

Cabarets, etc.

934

118

12.6

10,784

2,039

18.9

245

118

48.2

2,882

675

23.4

b

Game centers, etc.

c

Stores engaged in sexrelated businesses, etc.
Karaoke box and stores,
etc.

Classification of fire prevention properties(5) Welfare centers fordisabled persons, etc.

16,095

2,448

15.2

Subtotal

74,27912,923

17.4

Kindergartens, etc.

18,115

4,159

23.0

(7)

Schools

128,429

28,55222.2(8)

Libraries, etc.

7,836

852

10.9

a

Special bathhouses

1,685

680

40.4

b

c
(6)
d

(9)

Restaurants, etc.

3,325

550

16.5

General bathhouses

4,799

1,231

25.7

b

Eating and drinking houses

84,61016,66319.7(10)

Railroad depots

3,845

1,407

36.6

Department stores, etc.

159,470

27,65817.3(11)Temples and shrines, etc.

56,92011,82620.8

aHotels, etc.

58,685

5,827

9.9

a

Factories, etc.

492,981

69,56514.1

bApartment houses, etc.

1,294,957

481,152

37.2

bStudios

407

128

31.4

Hospitals, etc.

62,933

12,23519.4

aParking lots, etc.

51,403

15,12029.4

38,366

6,811

17.8

b

Aircraft hangars

749

105

14.0

264

33

12.5

(14)

Warehouses

325,086

52,239

16.1

160

29

18.1

(15)

461,608

106,084

23.0

364,834

135,26637.1

255,350

118,122

46.3

63

55

87.3

7

6

85.7

a

(1) Short-term welfare
facilities for the elderly(2) Sheltersb(6)(3) Nurseries(4) Welfare facilities fordisabled children(5) Support facilities for thedisabled
Subtotal(1) Elderly daycare centers,
etc.
(2) Rehabilitation facilitiesc(3) Nursery schools, etc.
(4) Child development
support centers, etc.

(12)

(13)

5,216

864

16.6

44,572

7,818

17.5

(16-2)

Offices, etc.
Specified multipurpose fire
prevention properties
Unspecified multipurpose
fire prevention properties
Underground malls

25,321

4,298

17.0

(16-3)

Semi-underground malls

566

81

a

14.3
(16)

b

1,105

65

5.9

(17)

Cultural properties

8,639

1,591

18.4

29,875

5,846

19.6

(18)

Arcades

1,336

507

37.9

1,883

266

14.1

(19)

Mountain forests

0

0

－

4,052,581

1,122,214

27.7

Total
(Notes)

1

2

*1
*2

(As of March 31, 2016)
21 major Percentage
Nationwide
cities
(%)

a

(4)
(5)

Percentage
(%)

a

d

(3)

21 majorcities

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties (targeting those fire prevention properties listed in Appended
Table I of the Ordinance of Enforcement for the Fire Services Act that are listed in (1) through (16-3) and have a total area of 150m2 or larger,
and those listed in (17) through (19); the same hereafter).
The 21 major cities refer to the 23 wards of Tokyo and 20 ordinance-designated cities (Sapporo City, Sendai City, Saitama City, Chiba City,
Yokohama City, Kawasaki City, Sagamihara City, Niigata City, Shizuoka City, Hamamatsu City, Nagoya City, Kyoto City, Osaka City, Sakai City,
Kobe City, Okayama City, Hiroshima City, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka City, and Kumamoto City).

Fire defence equipment etc.: Equipment for extinguishing fires, evacuation, and other fire protection activities (fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems,
automatic fire alarms, fire escape equipment, guide lights, etc.)
Semi-underground mall: A combination of an underground passage and shops established in the basement of a building that stand in a row facing thisunderground passage.

4

3.

states that supervisors of fire protection management are
to be appointed in consultation with them in order tocarry out fire protection management for the building as
a whole in an integrated manner. It mandates that the
management officials strive to prevent fires and maintainthe safety of the fire prevention properties as a whole bypreparing firefighting plans for fire protection
management for said properties on the whole, as well as
extinguishing fires, issuing reports, and holding
evacuation drills (Supervisory Fire protection
management System: enacted April 1, 2014).
This was preceded by the former joint fire protection
management consultation system (whereby fire
protection management was carried out jointly by
establishing joint fire protection management
consultative committees with the major management
officials at the fire prevention properties serving as
representatives, and where they established items related
to preparing firefighting plans for fire protection
management and other necessary operations throughconsultations). With this system the roles and authoritiesof the supervisors of fire protection management were
not clearly defined in law, which made it impossible toestablish a system whereby fire protection management
could be carried out autonomously and in an integrated
manner. Therefore, the Act for Partial Revision of theFire Services Act (2012; Law No. 38) mandated thatsupervisors of fire protection management be appointed
and that they be granted the authority to issue
instructions to the fire protection managers.
As of March 31, 2016, the number of fire prevention
properties that were required to appoint supervisors offire protection management came to 84,837 nationwide.
Of these, 42,905, which corresponds to 50.6%, haveappointed supervisors of fire protection management andnotified firefighting agencies to this effect. What is more,
the number of fire prevention properties that have
prepared overall fire prevention plans for the sake ofcarrying out fire protection management for the building
as a whole in an integrated manner and that have notified
firefighting agencies to this effect came to 40,133. This
represents a notification rate of 47.3% (Table 1-1-29).

Fire Prevention Management System(1) Fire Protection Managers
The Fire Services Act mandates that people withauthority when it comes to managing fire prevention
properties that contain large numbers of people (hereafterreferred to as “management officials”) undertake theoperations necessary for fire protection management.
These include appointing the fire protection managers* 3that form the core of voluntary fire protection management
structures, as well as preparing firefighting plans for fire
protection management* 4 that include stipulations on
firefighting, reporting, and holding disaster drills.
As of March 31, 2016, the number of fire prevention
properties that were legally required to establish fire
protection management structures and appoint fire
protection managers came to 1,075,458 nationwide. Of
these, 862,798 properties, which corresponds to 80.2%,
have appointed fire protection managers and havenotified firefighting agencies to this effect. However,
212,660 fire prevention properties have yet to appoint afire protection manager. Firefighting agencies areproviding the management officials at these fire
prevention properties with guidance and instructions inan effort to rectify this.
Additionally, the number of fire prevention
properties where the fire protection manager has
prepared firefighting plans for fire protection
management in order to carry out the proper fire
protection management operations for their own offices
and so forth and notified firefighting agencies to thiseffect came to 794,991, for 73.9% of the total (Table 11-28).
(2) Supervisors of Fire Protection Management
For properties like high-rise buildings (buildings thatare taller than 31 m high), underground malls, semiunderground malls, and other specified properties underfire prevention at or above a certain size* 5 wheremanagement authority has been divided up, the Fire
Services Act stipulates that fire protection managers areto be appointed and carry out fire protection
management for each of the various areas which they
have management authority over. Conversely, it also

*3

*4
*5

Fire protection managers: People who have been appointed from among those management officials who have certain qualifications, such as having
completed a training course on fire protection management for fire prevention properties, and who are in a managerial or supervisory position where they
can appropriately carry out the operations necessary for fire protection management at said properties.
Firefighting plans for fire protection management: These are plans that establish matters which are necessary for fire protection management. Said plans
are prepared by fire protection managers, with fire protection management operations carried out on the basis of said plans.
Specified properties under fire prevention measures: Certain properties under fire prevention measures that include department stores, restaurants, andother properties that can accommodate large numbers of people, as well as hospitals, nursing homes for the elderly, kindergartens, and other properties
used by people who would require assistance during a disaster.

5

Table 1-1-28

Nationwide fire prevention implementation statusa Theaters, etc.

3,252

(As of March 31, 2016)
No. of fire
prevention
properties that
Appointment rate have prepared
Preparation rate
firefighting plans(%)(%)
for fire protection
management
2,954
90.8
2,861
88.0

b Public halls, etc.

61,16849,12980.3

45,63874.6

a Cabarets, etc.

751

436

58.1

375

49.9

9,532

8,812

92.4

8,449

88.6

Item

Classification of properties underfire prevention measures(1)

No. of properties
that must perform
fire protection
managementb Game centers, etc.
(2)

(3)

Stores engaged in sex-related businesses,cetc.
d Karaoke box and stores, etc.

182

121

66.5

118

64.8

2,650

2,425

91.5

2,293

86.5

a Restaurants, etc.

2,650

2,305

87.0

2,090

78.9

b Eating and drinking houses

75,06959,362

79.1

54,48972.6

Department stores, etc.

104,030

83,041

79.8

77,557

74.6

a Hotels, etc.

36,21333,863

93.5

32,66290.2

b Apartment houses, etc.

179,713

136,36575.9

122,22868.0

a Hospitals, etc.

22,93920,761

90.5

19,873

86.6

b Special elderly nursing homes, etc.

35,23433,25894.4

32,27891.6

c Elderly daycare centers, etc.

44,52242,012

94.4

40,741

91.5

d Kindergartens, etc.

11,288

10,88796.4

10,444

92.5

(4)
(5)

(6)

No of fire
prevention
properties thathave appointed
fire protection
managers(7)

Schools

44,292

42,174

95.2

40,57991.6(8)Libraries, etc.

5,240

4,815

91.9

4,580

87.4

a Special bathhouses

1,327

1,192

89.8

1,156

87.1

b General bathhouses

2,936

2,693

91.7

2,497

85.0

Railroad depots, etc.

674

524

77.7

469

69.6

24,581

19,773

80.4

17,67871.9

39,77534,42886.6

31,419

79.0

273

175

64.1

154

56.4

a Parking lots, etc.

1,420

1,125

79.2

969

68.2

b Aircraft hangars

125

116

92.8

111

88.8

(14)

Warehouses

10,054

7,844

78.0

7,052

70.1

(15)

Offices, etc.

98,27380,44481.9

74,00175.3

aSpecified multipurpose fire prevention
properties

213,187

150,846（28,887）70.8（13.6 ）

134,527（23,764）63.1（11.1）

b

Unspecified multipurpose fire prevention
properties

42,63529,576（5,237）69.4（12.3）

26,437（4,268）62.0（10.0）

(9)
(10)
(11)

Temples and shrines, etc.
a Factories, etc.

(12)b Studios

(13)

(16)

(16-2)

Underground malls

63

60

95.2

60

95.2

(17)

Cultural properties

1,410

1,282

90.9

1,206

85.5

1,075,458

862,798

80.2

794,991

73.9

Total
(Notes)123Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.
When a property under fire prevention measures has multiple management officials, they are only all counted when all of them are involved in
the appointment of the fire protection manager or preparing firefighting plans for fire protection management. The numbers in parenthesis are
the figures for fire prevention properties where said managers are appointed and plans are prepared only by some of them.
The classification of fire prevention properties is the classification pursuant to Appended Table I of the Ordinance of Enforcement for the Fire
Services Act. The facility names are illustrations of this. The same holds true in this section hereafter unless otherwise noted.

(3) Periodic Inspection and Reporting System forFire Prevention Properties
To prevent fires from occurring and mitigate thedamage they do, it is important for not only firefighting
agencies but also personnel from the fire prevention
properties, to perform maintenance for fire prevention
with said properties and strive to comply with fire
prevention laws and ordinances.
Therefore, the Fire Services Act mandates thatmanagement officials at fire prevention properties withcertain purposes or structures or the like have people*6

with expert knowledge when it comes to fire prevention(hereafter referred to as “qualified inspectors of fire
prevention properties”) perform inspections and report
the results of these to firefighting agencies once a year.
These qualified inspectors of fire prevention properties
consist of people with a certain level of knowledge of fire
prevention, such as fire protection engineers* 6 with threeor more years of practical experience with construction
work for fire defence equipment etc., or people with threeor more years of practical experience as fire protection
managers. They must also complete a training course

Fire protection engineer: A person with expert knowledge of fire defence equipment etc. who has been issued a fire protection engineer certification

6

offered by a corporation that has been registered by the
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, andhave been issued a certificate attesting that they haveacquired the necessary knowledge and skills when it
comes to inspections for fire prevention properties.
What is more, these inspectors are obligated toundergo re-training every five years for new knowledge
and skills that they must learn.
As of March 31, 2016, the number of such inspectors
came to 29,085.
Those fire prevention properties for which periodic
inspection reports have been mandated and which havebeen carrying out management for three or more years
continuously are exempt from the duty to perform threeyear inspections and reports if they meet a certain criteria.
Table 1-1-29

This criteria is that they have been acknowledged ashaving excellent compliance with the standards from fire
prevention laws and ordinances as a result of inspections
carried out by a firefighting agency on the basis of an
application from the management officials from said
property under fire prevention measures.
Fire prevention properties that have been
acknowledged as being in compliance with the inspection
standards by the inspectors for these properties may
display a “Fire Prevention Standard Inspection Certificate
of Completion.” Those that have been acknowledged ashaving excellent compliance with the standards in fire
prevention laws and ordinances by firefighting agencies
may display a “Fire Prevention Certificate of Excellence.”

Nationwide supervisory fire protection management implementation status(As of March 31, 2016)

Classification of properties
under fire prevention measures
a Theaters, etc.

(1)b

No of fire
prevention
Item No. of properties
properties thatthat must performhave beensupervisory fireappointed
protection
supervisors of fire
management
protection
management
25
16

Public halls, etc.

a Cabarets, etc.
b
(2)

66

29

43.9

22

33.3

74

14

18.9

14

18.9

46

58.2

42

53.2

52.9

18

52.9

21

9

42.9

8

38.1

3

0

0.0

0

0.0

2,140

1,056

49.3

978

45.7

736

355

48.2

321

43.6

a Hotels, etc.

238

124

52.1

107

45.0

a Hospitals, etc.
Special elderly nursing homes,
b
etc.

161

78

48.4

69

42.9

120

55

45.8

54

45.0

b

(4)

Eating and drinking houses
Department stores, etc.

(6)

60.0

18

d

(5)

15

79

a. Restaurants, etc.

(3)

64.0

Preparation rate
(%)

34

c

Game centers, etc.
Stores engaged in sex-related
businesses, etc.
Karaoke box and stores, etc.

No. of fire
prevention
Appointment rate properties that have
prepared overall fire(%)
prevention plansc.

Elderly daycare centers, etc.

158

69

43.7

66

41.8

d.

Kindergartens, etc.

13

8

61.5

5

38.5

(9)

a. Special bathhouses

119

55

46.2

45

37.8

55,16027,385

49.6

25,50746.2(16)Specified multipurpose fireaprevention properties
Unspecified multipurpose fireb
prevention properties

7,071

2,931

41.5

2,681

37.9

(16-2)

Underground malls

54

44

81.5

42

77.8

(16-3)

Semi-underground malls

4

4

100.0

3

75.0

18,561

10,60957.2

10,13654.6

High-rise buildings(Notes)1
2

84,83742,905
50.6
40,133
47.3
Total
Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.
High-rise buildings (buildings that are taller than 31 meters) are not classified within Appended Table I of the Ordinance of Enforcement for theFire Services Act. Moreover, fire prevention properties that correspond to high-rise buildings were counted in the “High-rise buildings” field withinthe “Classification of fire prevention properties” column.

7are to establish fire defense organizations for self
protection.* 7 Such organizations prepare firefighting
plans for disaster protection management* 8 suited toearthquake and other disasters, and appoint disasterprotection managers* 9 responsible for emergency
response structures concerning significant damage whenearthquakes strike and for holding evacuation drills. In
addition, they carry out the necessary operations in orderto mitigate the damage from fires and other disasters.

4. Disaster Prevention Management System(1) Disaster Protection Managers
In order to handle imminent threats such as major
earthquakes, the revisions to the Fire Services Act from
June 2007 mandated that those people with authority forthe management of large-scale and high-rise buildings andthe like (hereafter referred to as “management officials”)
Table 1-1-30

Implementation status for disaster prevention management throughout Japan(As of March 31, 2016)(Notes)

*7

*8
*9

1
2
3

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.
“Properties” here refer to “properties and other manufactured items.”
When a property that requires disaster prevention management or a property required to establish a voluntary fire prevention organization has
multiple management officials, they are only all counted when all of them are involved in the appointment of the disaster prevention manager,
preparing firefighting plans for disaster prevention management and establishment of voluntary fire prevention organizations. The numbers inparenthesis are the figures for properties where said managers are appointed, plans are prepared and organizations have been established, only
by some of them.

Fire defense organizations for self protection: These are personal organizations comprised of people like employees at properties under fire prevention
measures. They carry out the operations necessary in order to mitigate the damage from fires and other disasters when they occur based on the roles
established in the firefighting plan.
Firefighting plans for disaster protection management: These are plans that establish matters which are necessary for disaster protection management.
Said plans are prepared by disaster protection managers, with disaster protection management operations carried out on the basis of said plans.
Disaster protection managers: People who have been appointed from among those management officials who have certain qualifications, such as
having completed a training course on disaster protection management, and who are in a managerial or supervisory position where they canappropriately carry out the operations necessary for disaster protection management at disaster prevention properties.

8As of March 31, 2016, the number of properties underdisaster prevention measures that were legally required toestablish disaster protection management systems andappoint disaster protection managers came to 9,678
throughout Japan. Of these, 7,852, which corresponds to
81.1%, have appointed disaster protection managers andnotified firefighting agencies to this effect.
What is more, the number of properties under disasterprevention measures at which the disaster protection
manager has prepared firefighting plans for disasterprotection management, in order to carry out theappropriate disaster protection management operations attheir own offices and other establishments, and notified
firefighting agencies to this effect came to 7,268, or 75.1%of the total. The number of said properties that haveestablished fire defense organizations for self-protection
came to 8,341, or 86.2% of the total (Table 1-1-30).

protection managers are to be appointed and carry out
disaster protection management for each of the various
areas which they have management authority over.
Conversely, it also stipulates that supervisors of disasterprotection management are to be appointed inconsultation with them in order to carry out disasterprotection management for the building as a whole in an
integrated manner. It mandates that the management
officials establish fire and disaster safety for the disasterprevention properties as a whole (supervisory disasterprotection management system: enacted April 1, 2014).
As of March 31, 2016, the number of fire prevention
properties that were required to appoint supervisors of
disaster protection management came to 2,950 nationwide.
Of these, 2,469, which corresponds to 83.7%, haveappointed supervisors of disaster protection management
and notified firefighting agencies to this effect. What ismore, the number of disaster prevention properties thathave prepared firefighting plans for the sake of carryingout disaster protection management for the building as awhole in an integrated manner and that have notified
firefighting agencies to this effect, came to 2,388. This
represents a notification rate of 80.9% (Table 1-1-31).

(2) Supervisors of Disaster Protection
Management
For those buildings that require disaster protection
management where management authority has been
divided up, the Fire Services Act stipulates that disaster
Table 1-1-31

Nationwide supervisory fire protection management implementation status(As of March 31, 2016)(Notes)1. Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.
2. “Properties” here refer to “properties and other manufactured items.”

9(2) Initiation of the New Fire Safety Certification
Mark System
This new labeling system, which fire defense
headquarters throughout Japan were notified of in October
2013, provides users with information on a building’s
compliance with laws and ordinances related to fire
prevention and construction. Applications began being
tendered and received on April 1, 2014, and hotels,
Japanese-style hotels, and other facilities began sequentiallyputting the marks out on display starting from August 1.
Visitors to the FDMA’s homepage can check to confirm
hotels that have been issued the Fire Safety Certification
Mark throughout Japan (reference URL:
http://www.fdma.go.jp/kasai_yobo/hyoujiseido/index.html).

5. Onsite Inspections and Corrections of Violations(1) Current Status for Onsite Inspections andCorrections of Violations
Firefighting agencies enter fire prevention properties
to perform onsite inspections pursuant to the regulationsof Article 4 of the Fire Services Act when it is necessary
to do so for the sake of fire prevention.
The number of times onsite inspections were carriedout by firefighting agencies throughout Japan in FY2015
came to 859,216 (Table 1-1-32).
Fire chiefs or fire station chiefs may order measuresthat must be taken with respect to deficiencies in fire
protection management at the fire prevention properties,
fire defence equipment etc. that has not been installed atsuch properties, or other problems brought to lightthrough the onsite inspections. Such measures include
appointing fire protection managers and installing fire
defence equipment etc. or special fire defence equipmentetc., pursuant to the regulations in Article 8, Article 8-2,
or Article 17-4 of the Fire Services Act. In cases where
this is recognized as posing a hazard for fire prevention,
they can order that the necessary measures be taken, suchas repairing or relocating the fire prevention properties
in question or removing the hazards from them, or else
question or removing the hazards from them, or else
prohibiting or restricting their use, pursuant to theregulations in Article 5, Article 5-2, or Article 5-3 of theFire Services Act. The act states that they must publicly
announce when they issue orders such as these.
In cases where violations of fire prevention laws orordinances are discovered as a result of these onsite
inspections, the fire chief or fire station chief work to
redress these violations to bring them back into legal
compliance, such as by issuing warnings or otherremedial instructions, orders, and so on (Table 1-1-33,
Attachment 24, 25, 26 of the White Paper on Fire
Service).
Particularly for specified violating properties (thisrefers to specified fire prevention properties with a floorarea of 1,500 m2 or more or unspecified fire prevention
properties with 11 or more floors, excluding thebasement, where sprinkler systems, indoor fire hydrants,
or automatic fire alarms have not been installed in a
majority of the sections where such equipment must be
installed), strict guidance is imposed based on theseverity of the violation, such as those that pose asignificant hazard to human life in the event that a fireshould break out.
As of March 31, 2016, there were 359 specified
violating properties, and so therefore it is necessary tocontinue working to thoroughly correct these violations
in a focused manner (Table 1-1-34).

(3) Initiation of a System for Publicly
Announcing Violating Properties
The System for Publicly Announcing Violating
Properties, which came about through a notification from
December 2013, is a system for announcing the details oflegal violations on the homepages of municipal
governments based on the ordinances of said
municipalities. This is aimed at fire prevention properties
that have unspecified large numbers of people coming andgoing that have not yet installed sprinkler systems, indoor
fire hydrants, or automatic fire alarms, despite being
obligated to do so. This announcement system wasinitiated in all ordinance-designated cities starting from
April 2015.
Information on things like the implementation statusof the public announcement system and its scheduled
implementation period for municipalities throughout
Japan can be confirmed via the FDMA’s website (seeURL: http://www.fdma.go.jp/publication/index.html).

10

Table 1-1-32

Implementation status for onsite inspections(FY2015)(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.

Table 1-1-33

Status of orders(FY2015)

Table 1-1-34

Trends in the improvement
status of specified violating
properties(FY2015)(Notes)12Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions ofFire Prevention Properties.
“No. of revisions” refers to the number of orders that wererevised as of March 31, 2016 based on the orders issued
between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 (including thosefor which plans had been submitted or which revision
measures were underway as of March 31, 2016).
(Notes)

1
2

3

11

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions ofFire Prevention Properties.
“No. of violating properties at the start of the FY” is the sumof properties that remained in violation from two fiscal years
before and violating properties that newly became aware
they were in violation during the previous fiscal year at theend of the previous fiscal year for each fiscal year (as ofMarch 31).
“No. of properties that corrected their violations during the FY”
is the number of properties that corrected their violation
during the fiscal year (it does not include those that newly
became aware of their violation or that were abandoned).

order to evacuate must also install sprinkler systems as a
general rule, regardless of their floor area. The
installation of these sprinkler systems has been carriedout since April 1, 2016 as a result of the Partial Revisionof the Order for Enforcement of the Fire Service Act(promulgated on October 16, 2014) and other legislation.
To carry this out, transitional measures were establishedwhich state that these are to be installed on existing
facilities by June 30, 2025.
For properties in violation of fire prevention laws andordinances, such as those in violation of the obligation to
install fire defence equipment etc., orders for them totake measures pursuant to the Fire Services Act areproactively issued and the prompt and effective
remediation of the violation is further promoted.

6. Fire Defence Equipment etc.
(1) Current Status of Fire Prevention Approval
Fire prevention approval is a system that wasestablished with the goal of boosting the safety of buildings
by having personnel from firefighting agencies get
involved in fire prevention for buildings starting from thedesign stage in their capacity as experts on fire prevention.
When it comes to the operation of this system, thefirefighting agencies offer finely-detailed examinations
and instructions based on legal regulations related tobuilding fire prevention from the perspective of fire
prevention safety and firefighting activities. They also
work to enhance structures and strengthen cooperationfor ensuring that this work is handled promptly.
The number of cases processed regarding fire
prevention approval work throughout Japan in FY2015
came to 235,750, with only 30 of these failing to receive
approval (Table 1-1-35).

(3) Fire Protection Engineers and Fire Protection
Inspectors
Efforts are made to ensure the performance of fire
defence equipment etc. via inspection system for fire
protection machinery and tools. However, if there are
deficiencies or defects at the installation stage, then such
equipment will be rendered incapable of performing
properly when a fire does occur. To prevent suchcircumstances, the installation and maintenance of
certain fire defence equipment etc. can only be
performed by fire protection engineers.
What is more, fire defence equipment etc. must be
properly maintained on a daily basis to ensure that it iscapable of performing at any and all times. As a result, it
has been mandated that periodic inspections be performed
and the results of these be reported. These inspections
premised on maintaining the equipment require knowledge
and skills with regards to the fire defence equipment etc..
Therefore, the relevant personnel from the fire prevention
properties must have fire protection engineers or fire
protection inspectors (people who have completed certain
training courses offered by corporations that have beenregistered by the Commissioner of the FDMA and been
issued a fire protection inspector certificate) perform theinspections on the fire defence equipment etc..
Efforts are made to improve the quality of these fire
protection engineers and fire protection inspectors bymandating that they undergo re-training at certain fixedintervals after they have received their license in orderfor them to acquire new knowledge and skills concerning
the fire defence equipment etc.. Moreover, these people
will be ordered to return their license or face a similar
punishment in the event that they violate any of the fire
prevention laws or ordinances.
As of March 31, 2016, the total number of fire
protection engineers came to 1,117,347 (Table 1-1-37).
In addition, the number of special fire protection
inspectors came to 672 special inspectors (for special fire
defence equipment etc.), 149,422 Class 1 inspectors (formechanical systems) and 140,994 Class 2 inspectors (forelectrical systems).

(2) Current Status for the Installation of Fire
Defence Equipment etc.
The Fire Services Act states that the relevant
personnel from fire prevention properties must installand properly maintain the necessary fire defence
equipment etc. according to the purpose, size, structure,and capacity of the property in question.
A look at the installation status for primary fire defence
equipment etc. in specified fire prevention properties
throughout Japan reveals that, as of March 31, 2016, theinstallation rate for sprinkler systems (number
installed/number that needs to be installed) was 99.6%, whilethat for automatic fire alarms was 98.3% (Table 1-1-36).
With respect to the technical standards pertaining tofire defence equipment etc., regulations are being
successively set in place in accordance withtechnological progress and societal demands. Recently,
a fire occurred at a group home for elderly people withdementia in Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture in
February 2013 (that left five people dead and seveninjured). In light of this, it was mandated that social
welfare facilities that mainly house people who would
have difficulty evacuating on their own must install
sprinkler systems as a general rule, regardless of theirfloor area. The installation of these sprinkler systems has
been carried out since April 1, 2015 as a result of thePartial Revision of the Order for Enforcement of the Fire
Service Act (promulgated on December 27, 2013) andother legislation. To carry this out, transitional measures
were established, which state that these are to beinstalled on existing facilities by March 31, 2018.
Moreover, a fire occurred at a medical clinic withbeds in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture in October
2013 (which left ten people dead and five injured). In
light of this, it was mandated that medical clinics withbeds and hospitals with patients that require assistance in

12

Programs for displaying that inspections have been
performed, in which inspection certificates of completionverifying that inspections of fire defence equipment etc. havebeen properly carried out are posted, have been
Table 1-1-35

independently instituted at the prefectural level. This is donein an effort to clarify the responsibilities for performing
inspections and have the relevant personnel from fire
prevention properties perform the proper inspections.

Fire prevention approval processing status(Cases)Breakdown
Gist ofapplication

Approved
FY2014

Unapproved
FY2015FY2014Total
FY2015FY2014FY2015

New construction

215,359

207,24029

26

215,388

207,266

Enlargement

20,85820,1705

2

20,863

20,172

Reconstruction

928

843

1

1

929

844

Relocation

143

146

0

0

143

146

Repair

115

134

0

0

115

134

Remodeling

126

100

0

0

126

100

Change of purpose

3,807

3,926

2

1

3,809

3,927

Other

3,308

3,161

0

0

3,308

3,161

30

244,681

235,750(Notes)Total
244,644
235,72037
Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties

Table 1-1-36

Installation status for sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarms in specified
fire prevention properties throughout Japan(As of March 31, 2016)(Notes)

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.

13

Table 1-1-37
Classification

Number of fire protection engineers
SpecialGroup 1

SpecialIndoor fire
firefighting
hydrants /equipment, etc. sprinklers, etc.

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Foam fire
extinguishers

CO2 fireextinguishers,
etc.

Automatic fire
alarms, etc.

Metalevacuation
ladders, etc.

Fire
extinguishers(As of March 31, 2016)
Group 7
Electricalleakage fire
alarms

Total

Classification
Class A (people)(Construction /3,047
134,382
41,77035,855
276,762
32,458--524,274
maintenance)
Class B (people)-36,952
11,484
10,48487,724
17,493
243,612
185,324
593,073(Maintenance)(Notes)1 Prepared based on the Statistical Table for the Testing and Certification of Hazardous Material Engineers and Fire Protection Engineers.
2 The number of engineers is the sum total of the number that have been certified.

(4) Flame Retardancy Regulations
A. Usage Status for Flame Retardant Goods

retardancy and fire prevention properties came to969,236. The conformance rate (share of the flame
retardancy and fire prevention properties where flame
retardant goods are used for all of the goods under theflame retardancy requirements at said properties) atflame retardancy and fire prevention properties using
curtains and stage curtains came to 87.5%, while it was
87.0% at those using carpets, and 84.7% at those using
plywood display boards (Table 1-1-38).

Using goods that resist catching fire for various
objects that tend to be easily flammable within buildings
prevents fires from breaking out and simultaneously
checks the spread of fires during their initial stages when
they do occur. As such, this is extremely effective whenit comes to preventing fires. Therefore, fire prevention
properties that must give forethought to fire prevention
due to their structural features or configuration, such as
high-rise buildings and underground malls, as well as
fire prevention properties like theaters, hotels, andhospitals that are used by large unspecified numbers ofpeople and people requiring special consideration havebeen designated as “flame retardancy and fire prevention
properties.” The Fire Services Act mandates that theseproperties use goods with the prescribed flame retardant
performance (hereafter referred to as “flame retardant
goods”) for the curtains, stage curtains, plywood display
boards, carpets, and other goods used (hereafter referred
to as “goods under the flame retardancy requirement”).
As of March 31, 2016, the number of flame
Table 1-1-38

B. Public Awareness of Flame Retardant Goods
for Bedding and Other Goods
Aside from those goods under the flame retardancy
requirement stipulated in the Fire Services Act such as
curtains and carpets, using fireproof goods for futons,
pajamas, the body covers for automobiles and motorcycles,
and more is also extremely effective for preventing fires.
Therefore, the FDMA spreads public awareness of these by
uploading videos detailing the effects from these flame
retardant goods to its homepage (reference URL:
http://www.fdma.go.jp/html/life/yobou_contents/materials/).

Number of flame retardancy and fire prevention properties and usage status offlame retardant goods(As of March 31, 2016)

Categories of flame retardancy and fire prevention
properties

a Theaters, etc.
b Public halls, etc.
a Cabarets, etc.
b Game centers, etc.
c Stores engaged in sex-related
businesses, etc.
d Karaoke box and stores, etc.
a Restaurants, etc.
b Eating and drinking houses
Department stores, etc.
a Hotels, etc.
a Hospitals, etc.
b Special elderly nursing homes,etc.
c Elderly daycare centers, etc.
d Kindergartens, etc.
a Special bathhousesb Studiosa Specified multipurpose fire
prevention propertiesb Unspecified multipurpose fire
prevention properties
Underground malls
Semi-underground malls
High-rise buildings
Total

(1)

(2)

(3)
(4)
(5)

(6)

(9)
(12)
(16)
(16-2)(16-3)(Notes)12

No. of flame
retardancy
and fire
prevention
properties
4,142
63,746933
10,468Use ofcurtains,
stage
curtains,
etc.
2,555
42,163464
4,794

Properties on the left
using all of the goods
under the flame
retardancy requirement
Compliance
rate (%)
95.1％
2,429
90.5％
38,173
75.4％
350
89.2％
4,278

Use ofcarpets

1,901
24,711475
4,467

Properties on the left
using all of the goods
under the flame
retardancy requirement
Compliance
rate (%)
95.1％
1,807
88.7％
21,926
80.8％
384
90.7％
4,053

Use ofplywooddisplayboards
468
4,041
50
679

Properties on the left
using all of the goods
under the flame
retardancy requirement
Compliance
rate (%)
95.1％
445
87.3％
3,527
92.0％
46
89.5％
608

197

134

109

81.3％

113

92

81.4％

8

6

75.0％

2,675
3,245
80,490152,786
56,96861,1371,370
1,948
38,65459,87345,95544,6381,223
1,640
32,24554,001
41,82641,809

89.3％
84.2％
83.4％
90.2％
91.0％
93.7％

1,177
1,794
24,52632,92038,31924,7361,083
1,517
20,302
29,06135,142
22,969

92.0％
84.6％
82.8％
88.3％
91.7％
92.9％

174
203
3,986
7,725
2,707
3,850

164
176
3,419
6,642
2,243
3,497

94.3％
86.7％
85.8％
86.0％
82.9％
90.8％

43,11235,57233,573

94.4％

21,114

19,845

94.0％

3,609

3,309

91.7％

71,44517,093
1,532
602

52,78013,243
1,128
247

48,887
12,228
997
202

92.6％
92.3％
88.4％
81.8％

30,609
6,933
1,083
193

27,797
6,327
990
163

90.8％
91.3％
91.4％
84.5％

4,912
1,111
78
113

4,371
1,003
63
96

89.0％
90.3％
80.8％
85.0％

327,295

142,483

114,279

80.2％

96,68678,04280.7％

17,651

13,965

79.1％

20,271

3,163

2,492

78.8％

2,294

1,786

77.9％

1,004

806

80.3％

60
11
51,028969,23649
721,680512,90038
5
18,175448,959

77.6％
71.4％
83.8％
87.5％

40
6
19,653
333,75032
516,961
290,284

80.0％
83.3％
86.3％
87.0％

7
1
3,869
56,2467
1
3,247
47,641100.0％
100.0％
83.9％
84.7％

Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Fire Prevention Properties.
High-rise buildings (buildings that are taller than 31 meters) are not classified within Appended Table I of the Ordinance of Enforcement for theFire Services Act. Moreover, fire prevention properties that correspond to high-rise buildings were counted in the “High-rise buildings” field withinthe “Classification of fire prevention properties” column.

14(5) Regulations for Equipment and Tools thatUse Fire
From the perspective of fire prevention, the location,
construction, management, and handling of equipment
and tools that use fire, including home gas burners, stoves,
hot-water heaters, fireplaces, kitchen equipment, andsauna equipment, are regulated via the fire prevention
ordinances established by each municipality. These areestablished pursuant to the Ministerial Ordinance
Establishing Standards for Enacting Ordinances on the
Location, Construction, and Management of Eligible
Equipment that Uses Fire and the Handling of Eligible
Tools that Use Fire (2002 Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications Ministerial Ordinance No. 24; hereafterreferred to as the “Ministerial Ordinance on Eligible
Equipment and Tools that Use Fire”).

to the effect that reassessments were to be made with aview towards expanding both voluntary screenings andthe increased involvement of the private sector when it
comes to inspections.
Based on this, the Act for Partial Revision of the Fire
Services Act was promulgated on June 27, 2012. Thisestablished collection orders via the Minister of Internal
Affairs and Communications and strengthened penal
provisions in cases where machinery and tools subject toinspection not in compliance with the standards or which
lacked labels indicating their compliance were circulatingon the market. It also relaxed requirements in order topromote the entry of private companies into the registeredinspection body market, among its other stipulations.
Moreover, the Partial Revision of the Order for the
Enforcement of the Fire Services Act (promulgated on
March 27, 2013) made machinery and tools subject toinspections, mainly the fire hoses and couplers used by
firefighting agencies and the electric leak alarms, forwhich there has been declining need due to changes in
the configurations of buildings, items that are subject toself-labeling. At the same time, it also newly added
residential fire alarms, which are required to be installed
in all homes, to the machinery and tools subject toinspection (entered into force on April 1, 2014).

7. Inspection System for Fire Protection Machinery and Tools etc.
(1) Inspections
Fire protection machinery or tools that are subject toinspection (hereafter referred to as “machinery and tools
subject to inspection”) are prohibited from being sold,displayed for commercial purposes, and so forth unlessthey pass inspections and include a label indicating thispursuant to the regulations of Article 21-2 of the Fire
Services Act.
The machinery and tools subject to inspection
include the 12 items stipulated in Article 37 of the Orderfor Enforcement of the Fire Services Act, including fire
extinguishers and enclosed sprinkler heads.
These inspections consist of “model approval”(approval indicating that the shape and other factors of themachinery and fools conform with the technicalspecifications established in ministerial ordinances) and“model compliance inspections” (inspections conducted toconfirm that the shape and other factors of the individualmachinery and tools subject to inspection are identical to
the shape and so forth for models of said equipment thathave received model approval) (Table 1-1-39).
Moreover, for machinery and tools subject toinspection with regard to the development of newtechnologies, inspections can be carried out via thetechnical specifications established by the Minister ofInternal Affairs and Communications for those items that
conform to the technical standards established by said
ministerial ordinance in terms of their shape or the like,or those acknowledged as having performance that meetsor exceeds this level. Through this, the aim is to enhance
the inspection system so as to promote technologicalinnovation with these machinery and tools subject toinspection.
Regarding the inspection system, it came to light thatcases of misconduct occurred in October 2008, including
test samples being secretly switched out during model
compliance inspections for fire hoses. Moreover, inMarch 2010 it was discovered that fire-extinguishingfoam used in the compressed air foam apparatuses on fire
trucks that had not been inspected was being sold. Aspart of the public service corporation program review
carried out in May 2010, evaluation results were issued

Table 1-1-39

Inspection application status(FY2015)(Notes)12Prepared based on the Japan Fire Equipment Inspection
Institute.
Model tests (model alteration tests): These are tests
conducted by the Japan Fire Equipment Inspection Instituteor registered inspection bodies on whether or not machineryand tools subject to inspection which are trying to receive
model approval conform to the technical standards.

(2) Self-labelingWith the self-labeling system, it is the responsibility ofthe manufacturers to confirm their compliance withspecifications on their own according to the regulations in
Article 21-16 (3) of the Fire Services Act. The system also
gives approval for labeling models that have been reported
to the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications inadvance. The number of reports from manufacturers in
FY2015 came to 25 for power fire pumps, 32 for fire hoses,
3 for fire suction hoses, 16 for couplers, 1 for disposable

15

aerosol fire extinguishers, and 2 for electric leak alarms.
Machinery and tools that are subject to self-labeling(hereafter referred to as “machinery and tools subject toself-labeling”) are prohibited from being sold, displayedfor commercial purposes, and so forth unless they
include a label pursuant to the regulations of Article 2116 (2) of the Fire Services Act.
Similar to machinery and tools subject to inspection,
the Act for Partial Revision of the Fire Services Act(promulgated on June 27, 2012) established collection
orders via the Minister of Internal Affairs andCommunications and strengthened penal provisions formachinery and tools subject to self-labeling not incompliance with the standards or which lacked labels
indicating their compliance.
Items that fall under the category of machinery andtools subject to self-labeling include power fire pumps
and fire suction hoses. Furthermore, as a result of thePartial Revision of the Order for Enforcement of the Fire
Services Act (promulgated on March 27, 2013) and otherlegislation, the fire hoses, couplers, and electric leakalarms that had previously been counted as machineryand tools subject to inspection, as well as the disposable
aerosol fire extinguishers that are generally inwidespread circulation but which frequently suffer fromrupture accidents and the like, were newly added to thiscategory (entered into force on April 1, 2014).

Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications has
been established aimed at equipment for which
evaluations of its equivalence cannot be performed
solely through the existing objective verification
methods (such as special fire defence equipment etc.).
Under this system, applications are made for each
property under fire prevention measures regarding
special fire defence equipment etc. for which generalinspection standards have not have established. The
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications willthen perform an examination based on the evaluation
results from a performance evaluation agency (the Japan
Fire Equipment Inspection Institute or a registeredinspection body), and equipment that has been
acknowledged as having the necessary level of
performance can be installed. As of March 31, 2016, 60
cases have received certification thus far as special fire
defence equipment etc. (Table 1-1-40).
The expectation is that, by applying these regulations,
new equipment that uses new technologies will be
proactively developed and disseminated.

9. Current Status of Investigations into the Causes of Fires
Advances in science and technology have brought
about increasing sophistication for industry and changes
in social conditions. This has resulted in a tendency for
fires that are large in scale and which assume aspects ofcomplexity to occur with great frequency, and soinvestigating the causes behind these requires
sophisticated expertise. What is more, investigating thecauses of fires and illuminating the extent of the damage
caused by both fires and firefighting are crucial when it
comes to examining modalities for subsequent fire
prevention administration.
Investigating the causes of fires is unequivocally therole of local governments, but it is the duty of thenational government to complement them in this. In
cases where there has been a request from a firefighting
agency, or the Commissioner of the FDMA has deemedthat there is a particular necessity in doing so, aninvestigation into the causes of a fire can be carried out
by the Commissioner of the FDMA (see White Paper
P280). Investigation teams formed from personnel fromthe FDMA according to the type of fire carry out theinvestigations into the causes of the fire through thissystem in coordination with firefighting agencies.
Reviews are conducted based on the knowledge and dataobtained from the investigations, and this is reflected inpolicies for fire defense administration. Cases where
responses such as revising fire prevention laws andordinances were carried out based on the results ofinvestigations into the causes of fires by theCommissioner of the FDMA that were carried out
recently are shown in Table 1-1-41.
In an effort to improve the effectiveness ofinvestigations into the causes of fires regarding productfires, the Act for Partial Revision of the Fire Services Act(Law No. 38 from 2012) granted firefighting agencies theright to issue an order to submit materials to manufacturers
and importers and the right to collect information fromthem (entered into force on April 1, 2013).

8. Performance Inspections of Technical Standard for Fire Defence Equipment
etc.

When it comes to the technical standards for fire
defence equipment etc., oftentimes details like materials
or dimensions are prescribed in specification documentsor the like. This makes it difficult for new technologies
to gain acceptance, even when they offer satisfactory
performance. Therefore, technical development for thefields of fire and other disaster prevention is promoted
and performance regulations are adopted to ensure thateven more effective fire prevention and safety measures
can be established.
The basic philosophy behind this is to judge whether
equipment offers performance that is at or above the levelof performance of the installed fire defence equipment etc.
based on the conventional technical standards. Equipmentthat has been confirmed to be at or above the conventional
performance level is approved for installation in place ofthe existing fire defence equipment etc..
The performance demanded of fire defence equipment
etc. is divided up into three categories. These are “initial
spread inhibition performance,” which is performance forinhibiting the spread of fires during the initial stages,“evacuation safety support performance,” which is
performance that supports safely evacuating during fires,and “firefighting activity support performance,” which is
performance that supports the activities of firefighting
teams. A certain body of knowledge has been gained
regarding these, on which their equivalence is evaluated
via objective verification methods (methods of objectively
and impartially verifying newly developed technologies
and technical innovations) and so forth.
At the same time, a certification system via the16

as well as electronic appliances and burning appliances,that occurred in 2015 (January - December 2015) were
aggregated based on what was reported by firefighting
agencies. From this, it was discovered that of the total of
770 product fires, 142 were fires deemed to have beencaused by product defects, 446 were fires that could not
be determined to have occurred from a defect in a
specified product as the direct cause although the cause
was identified, and fires where the cause could not be
identified, and 182 were fires that are still currently
under investigation (Fig. 1-1-28).
The results of these investigations are reported to
firefighting agencies throughout Japan. Furthermore, thecollected fire information is shared between theConsumer Affairs Agency, the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, and the National Institute ofTechnology and Evaluation (NITE), which work
together to promote countermeasures to product fires.

10. Promoting Countermeasures to Product Fires
In recent years, as the causes of fires has grown
extremely diverse, the products close to the generalpublic in their daily lives have begun causing fires as
well, including automobiles and other vehicles,
electronic appliances, and burning appliances. Given thestrong demands to ensure consumer safety and peace ofmind, the FDMA has been strengthening its initiatives tocombat these product fires.
For such fires, the FDMA has established a structure
whereby it collects fire information from firefighting
agencies in a comprehensive manner and aggregates thenumber of fires for each type of product which serve as
the ignition source. It then provides the public withwarnings and alerts quickly and effectively byannouncing information like the names of faulty
products and their manufacturers every quarter.
The fires involving automobiles and other vehicles,
Table 1-1-40

No. of cases of special fire defense equipment certified: 60 in total(As of March 31, 2016)17

Table 1-1-41

Investigations into the causes of fires by the Commissioner of the FDMA thatwere recently conducted and responses based on the results of these

What is more, with respect to investigations into thecauses of fires carried out by firefighting agencies
throughout Japan, efforts are also being made to improve
the investigation skills of the firefighting agencies.
Examples of this include providing them with technicalsupport such as scientific investigation based on theexpert knowledge and equipment and materials of the
National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster and so
Fig. 1-1-28

forth. In addition to working to enhance investigations
into the causes of fires and the structures for this, theFDMA also strives to proactively collect information on
product fires and strengthen collaborations with therelevant agencies. Through this, it is moving forwardwith ensuring consumer safety and peace of mind, while
also preventing fire accidents caused by products.

Trends in the survey results on product fires over the past five years

order to promote fire prevention measures at outdoor
event venues. These mandated initiatives like preparing
fire extinguishers when handling equipment that use fireat outdoor event venues and the like, and appointing
managers for fire prevention at those large-scale outdoor
and similar events that have been specially designated byfire chiefs. It also mandated that plans for the operations
necessary for fire prevention be prepared and submitted.

11. Promoting Fire Prevention Measures at Outdoor Event Venues
In August 15, 2013, a fire broke out at the venue fora fireworks show in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto, thatinvolved enormous human suffering in the sense that 3
people died and 56 were injured. Following this, theOrder for Enforcement of the Fire Services Act wasrevised in December 2013 and the Fire Prevention
Ordinance (Example) was revised in January 2014 in

18

Chapter 1

Section2
Section 2

Current Status and Challenges for Disasters

Countermeasures to Disasters
at Facilities for Hazardous
Materials

Countermeasures to Disasters at Facilities for Hazardous Materials

such as inadequate maintenance and inadequate operating
checks account for the majority of the primary causes forthese. However, accidents caused by physical factors suchas deterioration such as corrosion fatigue are also on an
upswing.

[Current Status and Recent Trends in
Disasters at Facilities for Hazardous Materials][Current Status and Recent Trends in Disasters at Facilities for Hazardous Materials] White Paper P.76-79

Accidents at facilities for hazardous materials (seeP23 *11) are broadly classified into fires (including
explosions) and spills of hazardous materials (see P23*10). The number of fire and spillage accidents at
facilities for hazardous materials have been trending
upward since 1994. In 2015 (January 1 - December 31,2015), there were 215 fires and 365 spills for a total of
580 accidents. Although this is a decrease of 19 accidents
compared with the previous year, accidents are still
holding steady at a high level (Fig. 1-2-1).

(1) Number of Fire Accidents at Facilities for
Hazardous Materials and the Damage Done
The number of fire accidents that occurred at
facilities for hazardous materials in 2015 came to 215 (anincrease of 12 year-on-year), the amount of damages
came to 7,956 million yen (an increase of 5,816 million
yen year-on-year), and they resulted in no death (adecrease of 1 person year-on-year) and 31 people injured(a decrease of 33 people year-on-year) (Fig. 1-2-2).
Moreover, looking at the number of fire accidents
that occurred by type of facility for hazardous materials
reveals that the majority occurred at general outlets,
followed by manufacturing facilities and fuel supply
depots in that order. The total for these 3 facility
classifications account for 94.4% of the total accidents(Fig. 1-2-3).
Conversely, of the 215 fire accidents 103 (or 47.9%of the total) were cases where a hazardous material
served as the causative agent for the fire (Fig. 1-2-4).

1. Fire Accidents
The number of fire accidents that occurred at facilities
for hazardous materials in 2015 rose by roughly 2.0-times
compared with the 107 such accidents in 1993, which had
the lowest number of fire accidents since 1989, despite thefact that the number of facilities for hazardous materials
has decreased. Accidents attributable to human factors
Fig. 1-2-1

Trends in the number of fire and spillage accidents at facilities for hazardous
materials

19Fig. 1-2-2

Number of fire accidents at facilities for hazardous materials and the extent of
the damage done

Fig. 1-2-3

Number of fire accidents bytype of facility for hazardous
materials

Fig. 1-2-4(2) Causative Factors behind the Fire Accidents
at Facilities for Hazardous Materials
A look at the causative factors behind the fire
accidents at facilities for hazardous materials that
occurred in 2015 reveals that human factors accounted
for 57.7%; physical factors accounted for 27.9%; and thetotal for other causes, unknown, and under investigation
came to 14.4% (Fig. 1-2-5).
When viewed by ignition source, those ignited byhigh-temperature surface heat were most common at 40(an increase of 7 year-on-year), followed by 23 from static

Number of fire accidents by
causative agent for the fireelectricity sparks (a decrease of 19 year-on-year) and 22
from ignition due to overheating (the same year-on-year)(Fig. 1-2-6).
(3) Fire Accidents at Unauthorized Facilities
The number of fire accidents that occurred at facilities
which were supposed to receive authorization as facilities
for hazardous materials yet which failed to do so (hereafterreferred to as “unauthorized facilities”) in 2015 came tonine (an increase of three year-on-year), and they left two
people dead (an increase of one year-on-year) and 14
injured (an increase of nine year-on-year).

20

(4) Fire Accidents during the Transportation ofHazardous Materials
In 2015, two fire accidents during the transportationof hazardous materials occurred (an increase of two yearon-year).

2. Spillage Accidents
The number of spillage accidents involving
hazardous materials that occurred at facilities forhazardous materials in 2015 rose by roughly 2.1-times
compared with the 174 such accidents in 1994, which
had the lowest number of spillage accidents since 1989,
despite the fact that the number of facilities forhazardous materials has decreased. As for the primarycausative factors, accidents attributable to human factors
and those caused by physical factors both occur in large
numbers. However, of those accidents caused byphysical factors, the number caused by age-related
deterioration, such as corrosion fatigue, in particular isthe largest.

(5) Fire Accidents during Temporary Storage or
Handling
Continuing on from 2014, no fire accidents during
the temporary storage or handling of hazardous materials
occurred in 2015.
Fig. 1-2-5

Fig. 1-2-6

Number of fire accidents by
causative flood(1) Number of Spillage Accidents at Facilities for
Hazardous Materials and the Damage Done
The number of spillage accidents involving
hazardous materials that occurred at facilities forhazardous materials (which did not turn into fires) in2015 came to 365 (a decrease of 31 year-on-year), theamount of damages came to 441 million yen (anincrease of 17 million yen year-on-year), and they two
people dead (an increase of two year-on-year) but left
14 people injured (a decrease of 11 people year-onyear) (Fig. 1-2-7).
Moreover, looking at the number of spillage
accidents that occurred by type of facility for hazardous
materials reveals that the majority occurred at generaloutlets, followed by outdoor storage tank facilities andtransfer tank storage facilities in that order (Fig. 1-2-8).
Conversely, 96.7% of the number of spillage
accidents at facilities for hazardous materials involved
spills of Class 4 hazardous materials, which consist
primarily of petroleum products. Viewing this item typereveals that Class 1 petroleums (gasoline, etc.) accounts
for most of these, followed by Class 2 petroleums (lightoil, etc.), Class 3 petroleums (heavy oil, etc.), and Class
4 petroleums (gear oil, etc.) in that order (Fig. 1-2-9).

Number of fire accidents byignition source(2) Causative Factors behind the Spillage
Accidents at Facilities for Hazardous Materials
A look at the causative factors behind the spillage
accidents at facilities for hazardous materials that
occurred in 2015 reveals that human factors accounted
for 38.6%; physical factors accounted for 54.0%; and thetotal for other causes, unknown, and under investigation
came to 7.4% (Fig. 1-2-10).
When viewed by causative factor, those caused bydeterioration such as corrosion fatigue were mostcommon at 131 (a decrease of 17 year-on-year),followed by 45 from inadequate operating checks (adecrease of 8 year-on-year) and 32 from inadequate
monitoring (an increase of 3 year-on-year) (Fig. 1-2-10).
(3) Spillage Accidents at Unauthorized Facilities
The number of spillage accidents that occurred atunauthorized facilities in 2015 came to five (an increaseof two year-on-year), with no casualties (same numberof dead and injured people year-on-year).

21

(4) Spillage Accidents during the Transportationof Hazardous Materials
The number of spillage accidents that occurred
during the transportation of hazardous materials in 2015

came to 12 (the same year-on-year), and while there were
no deaths (the same year-on-year) one person was
injured (a decrease of 4 year-on-year).

Fig. 1-2-7

Number of spillage accidents at facilities for hazardous materials and the extent
of the damage done

Fig. 1-2-8

Number of spillage accidents
by type of facility for
hazardous materials

Fig. 1-2-9

22

Number of spillage accidents
by material spilled

[ Current Status of Hazardous Materials Administration ]Fig. 1-2-10

Number of spillage accidents
by causative factor[Current Status of Hazardous Materials Administration] White Paper P.79-85

1. Regulations on Hazardous Materials(1) Regulatory Structure for Hazardous Materials
The Fire Services Act designates substances withproperties such as: (1) Carrying a significant risk of
causing a fire, (2) Carrying a significant risk of spreadinga fire once one starts, and (3) Being difficult to
extinguish when a fire does break out, as “hazardous
materials.”* 10 Enacting safety regulations for the
storage, handling and transportation of these hazardous
materials has been posited as contributing to thepromotion of social welfare by preventing fires;protecting the lives, health, and property of the publicfrom fires; and mitigating the damage from fires.
Regulations concerning hazardous materials havebeen instituted in a uniform manner throughout Japanthrough the partial revisions to the Fire Services Act of1959 and by enacting cabinet orders on regulations forhazardous materials. Since then, efforts like revising therelevant legislation to ensure that it contains content likeestablishing necessary and sufficient technical standards
that are safer for facilities for hazardous materials* 11
have sequentially been carried out in striving to thoroughly
ensure safety at such facilities.
An overview of the regulations on hazardous
materials is shown below (Fig. 1-2-11).

*10

Hazardous materials: The Fire Services Act (Article 2-7) defines them as such: “The term ‘hazardous materials’ means the materials listed in the Namesof Items column of Appended Table 1, which have the properties listed in the Nature column of said table according to the Categories specified in said
table.” Moreover, the properties of each hazardous material are defined for each type in the “Remarks” to Appended Table I of the Fire Services Act.

[Hazardous materials listed in Appended Table I and their characteristics]
Category
Category 1

Oxidizing solids

Category 2

Combustible solids

Category 3

Spontaneously combustible
substances and waterreactive substances

Properties
These are solids that do not burn themselves, but which have the property of
causing other substances to oxidize powerfully. When mixed with inflammablematerials, they degrade as a result of heat, impacts, or friction, and give rise to
extremely intense combustion.
These are solids that easily ignite from fire or solids that easily catch fire at
relatively low temperatures (less than 40°C). They easily catch fire, are quick to
combust, and are difficult to extinguish.
These substances spontaneously combust when exposed to air, or either
combust or generate combustible gasses when they come into contact withwater.

Category 4

Inflammable liquids

These are liquids that are inflammable.

Category 5

Self-reactive substances

Category 6

Oxidizing liquids*11

NatureThese are solids or liquids that generate large quantities of heat at relatively
low temperatures or promote explosive reactions as a result of thermolysis andother reactions.
These are liquids that do not burn themselves, but which have the property ofpromoting the combustion of other flammable substances they are mixed with.

Representative substances
Sodium chlorate, potassium nitrate,
ammonium nitrate
Red phosphorous, sulfur, iron powder,solid alcohol, lacquer putty
Sodium, alkyl aluminum, yellow
phosphorous
Gasoline, kerosene, light oil, heavy oil,acetone, methanol
Nitroglycerin, trinitrotoluen,hydroxylamine
Perchloric acid, hydrogen peroxide,
nitric acid

Facilities for hazardous materials: These are facilities that have received authorization from municipal mayors and similar officials as facilities that store
or handle hazardous materials at or above the quantities specified in the Fire Services Act. As described below, they are classified into three types:
manufacturing facilities, storage facilities, and handling facilities.

Classification
Manufacturing facilities
Indoor storage facilities
Outdoor storage tanks
Indoor storage tanks
Storage facilities
Underground storage tanks
Simple storage tanks
Transfer storage tanks
Outdoor storage facilities
Fuel supply depots
Sales handling facilities
Handling
facilities
Transfer handling facilities
General outlets

Details
Facilities that manufacture hazardous materials (Ex.: Chemical plants, oil refineries)
Store hazardous materials inside buildings
Store hazardous materials in tanks located outdoors (Ex.: oil tanks)
Store hazardous materials in tanks located indoors
Store hazardous materials in tanks located below the ground’s surface
Stores hazardous materials in small tanks less than 600 L
Store hazardous materials in tanks that have been affixed to vehicles (Ex.: Tanker trucks)
Store certain hazardous materials in containers in outdoor locations
Handling facilities that fuel vehicles and the like (Ex.: Gas stations)Stores that sell containers full of hazardous materials
Handling facilities that transfer hazardous materials through pipes (Ex.: Pipelines)
Handling facilities other than the three types of handling facilities above (Ex.: Boilers, private power generators)

23

(2) Recent Status for Hazardous Material
Regulations
A. Considering Revisions to Hazardous Material
Regulations based on Advances in Science andTechnology

・ Hazardous materials of volumes at or above thedesignated quantities (the quantity at whichauthorization is necessary to store or handle a material
as designated by the Fire Services Act) cannot be
stored or handled at locations other than facilities forhazardous materials. Persons attempting to establish afacility for hazardous materials must ensure it is incompliance with the standards regarding its location,
structure, and equipment specified by law, and receive
authorization from the municipal mayor for this.
・ The transportation of hazardous materials must be
carried out in accordance with the standards for
ensuring safety specified in law, regardless of how
large or small the quantity is.
・Standards for the storage and handling of hazardous
materials in volumes less than the designatedquantities are to be established via municipal
ordinances.
Fig. 1-2-11
Storage andhandling

The general safety regulations for high pressure gas
were revised and technical standards for compressedhydrogen filling stations at which equipment like liquidhydrogen storage tanks is installed were set in place as
initiatives geared towards achieving a hydrogen society.
In light of this, the Review Committee on the Safety ofAttaching Liquid Hydrogen Filling Stations to Fueling
Stations was held. In June 2015, it revised regulations
related to rules for hazardous materials to prescribe thatsafety measures are to be taken in regards to matters likethe distance between liquid hydrogen storage tanks andfixed fueling equipment.

Regulatory structure
For quantities at or over those listed in Appended Table III of
the Cabinet Order on Control of Hazardous Materials

For quantities less than those listed in Appended Table III of
the Cabinet Order on Control of Hazardous Materials

Transport

Regulated via the Fire Services Act as facilities forhazardous materials
Regulated via the Fire Services Act as temporary storage
or handling in the event it is stored or handled on an
extraordinary basis
Regulated via municipal ordinances

Regulated via the Fire Services Act regardless of quantity

Moreover, based on the Implementation Plan forRegulatory Reforms (approved by the Cabinet in June2013), the Review Committee on Modalities for Safety
Measures on the Sharing of Stopping Spaces for Fueling
Stations with Attached Natural Gas Stations has been
held since August 2013. The committee evaluated thedanger of sharing stopping spaces for fueling withnatural gas with those for gasoline, and considered thenecessary safety measures. Based on the results of said
review, it decided to revise the ministerial ordinance.
What is more, the FDMA is coping with the newchallenges surrounding the administration of hazardous
materials, while also searching for ways to operate
efficient fueling stations in hilly and mountains regions
and the like according to their unique regional
characteristics. In light of this, it has held the Review
Committee on Modalities for Safety Measures for the
Operation of Fueling Stations according to Regional
Characteristics since June 2015. It evaluated the dangers
of configurations in which employees who handle
hazardous materials promptly head out to fuelingstations from nearby shops or the like when called bycustomers to refuel their vehicles, and reviewed thenecessary safety measures for this. In March 2016 it
prepared the Guidelines on Safety Measures for
Refueling Vehicles On-demand, and notified firefighting
agencies and related industry groups throughout Japan ofthese.

B. Responses based on Accidents
At a fire that broke out at a worksite in Machida City,
Tokyo on May 13, 2014, it took a long time to get thefire under control because the facility was storing
magnesium and other substances that cannot be
extinguished using water. As a result, the Survey andReview Committee on Substances Potentially Posing aFire Hazard performed various surveys and reviews on
points to keep in mind for firefighting activities onsubstances like magnesium. In June 2016, it prepared theManual of Safety Measures for Magnesium and Similar
Substances, and notified firefighting agencies andrelated industry groups throughout Japan of this manual.

24

(number of facilities for construction permits) as ofMarch 31, 2016 came to 416,234 (Table 1-2-1). A lookat the share of facilities by their classification reveals thatstorage facilities account for the majority at 68.4%,
followed by handling facilities at 30.3% and thenmanufacturing facilities at 1.2% (Fig. 1-2-12).

C. Safety Measures for Facilities for Hazardous
Materials based on the Great East Japan Earthquake
The FDMA is mounting the necessary responses
regarding safety measures for facilities for hazardous
materials based on the extent of the damage from theGreat East Japan Earthquake.
In March 2013, it compiled the Review Report on
Modalities for Safety Measures on Temporary Storage or
Handling based on the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Following this, in October 2013 it prepared the
Guidelines on Safety Measures and Procedures for the
Temporary Storage and Handling of Hazardous
Materials during Earthquakes. This compiled together
safety measures for temporary storage and handling ofsuch materials, points to keep in mind regarding
application procedures, and the storage and handling of
hazardous materials at facilities for hazardous materials
on a temporary basis in order to facilitate the temporarystorage and handling of such substances and ensure thisis carried out appropriately. These were notified to
firefighting agencies and others throughout Japan.
What is more, in March 2014 the FDMA prepared the
Guidelines on Countermeasures against Earthquakes atFacilities for Hazardous Materials. This compiled
together points and matters to keep in mind for earthquake
countermeasures at facilities for hazardous materials
based on lessons learned from past cases of disasterdamage as well as successful case examples, along withtechnologies disseminated in the wake of earthquakes andthe knowledge gained from them. It was designed toensure that the operators of facilities for hazardous
materials can take the appropriate countermeasuresagainst earthquakes (including the operator’s responsewhen an earthquake occurs, confirmation and emergency
measures for the damage after the earthquake, temporary
responses, handling restoration, etc.). It then notified
firefighting agencies and related industry groups
throughout Japan of the guidelines.

B. Composition of Facilities for Hazardous
Materials by Size
As for the number of facilities by size (according to
the maximum storage quantity or the maximum handlingquantity) of the total number of facilities for hazardous
materials as of March 31, 2016, those facilities forhazardous materials that hold 50-times the designatedquantities or less account for 75.8% of the total (Fig. 12-13).
(4) Hazardous Material Engineers
Hazardous material engineers are classified into three
types. Class A engineers can handle all hazardous
materials, Class B engineers can handle types ofhazardous materials for which they have obtained
approval, and Class C engineers can handle designatedhazardous materials from among the type 4. Whenhazardous material engineers or someone else handles
hazardous materials at facilities for hazardous materials,
a Class A or Class B hazardous material engineer must
be present to ensure safety.
As of March 31, 2016 the (cumulative) total numberof people who have passed the hazardous material
engineer test since the hazardous material engineer
system was launched came to 9,137,022 people. They
play a significant role in ensuring safety at facilities forhazardous materials.
A. Hazardous Material Engineer Tests
Hazardous material engineer tests were held 578
times throughout Japan in FY2015 (an increase of 31
year-on-year). They were taken by 401,096 people (adecrease of 13,910 people year-on-year), with 152,111
people passing (a decrease of 6,803 people year-on-year)
for an average pass rate of roughly 37.9% (a decrease of
0.4 points year-on-year). (Fig. 1-2-14)(3) Current Status of Facilities for Hazardous
Materials
A. Number of Facilities for Hazardous Materials
The total number of facilities for hazardous materials
Table 1-2-1

Trends in the number of facilities for hazardous materials(As of March 31, 2016)25

Fig. 1-2-12

Number of facilities forhazardous materials byclassification

Fig. 1-2-14

Holding of tests for hazardous material engineers

Fig. 1-2-13

Viewing the situation by test type and category
reveals that 67.6% of the people took the test for Class
B, Type 4, followed by Class C at 8.9% of the total.
These two test types accounted for 76.5% of the total.
The number of people who passed these two test types
accounted for 64.0% of the total.

Composition ratio of facilities
for hazardous materials by sizefor handling hazardous materials offered by prefectural
governors (safety training courses) within each threeyear period (starting from April 1, 2012, within three
years from the first April 1 since the date on which thehazardous material engineer license was issued or thedate they took the safety training course).
In FY2015 safety training courses were held a totalof 1,407 times throughout Japan (an increase of 44 times
year-on-year), and were attended by 178,843 people (anincrease of 15,866 people year-on-year) (Table 1-2-2).

B. Safety Training Courses
As a general rule, the hazardous material engineers
engaged in handling hazardous materials at facilities forhazardous materials must take a training course on safety26

(5) Establishment of Safety Systems at Business
Establishments
As of March 31, 2016, the total number of businessestablishments that owned facilities for hazardous
materials came to 191,451 throughout Japan. In an effort
to establish safety systems at business establishments, it
has been mandated that the owners of facilities forhazardous materials that store or handle hazardous
materials at or above certain quantities must carry out
certain obligations. These include appointing hazardous
materials security superintendents, appointing safety
officers for facilities for hazardous materials (1,630
business establishments), and preparing fire and disasterprevention rules (45,190 business establishments).
Moreover, it has been mandated that said businessestablishments that own certain facilities for hazardous

Fig. 1-2-14

materials and that store or handle hazardous materials at
or above certain quantities must establish fire defense
organizations for self protection (75 businessestablishments) and appoint hazardous material safety
supervising managers (211 business establishments).
(6) Safety Inspections
It has been mandated that the owners of outdoor
storage tanks and transfer handling facilities at or over acertain size must undergo inspections on the safety offacilities for hazardous materials performed bymunicipal mayors and similar officials (safety
inspections) at regular fixed intervals according tofactors like the facilities’ size. In FY2015, 276 safety
inspections were performed, of which 267 involved
outdoor storage tanks and 9 involved transfer handlingfacilities.

Number of attendees at safety training courses for engineers and a breakdown of
the certification of hazardous material engineers by type(As of March 31 of each FY)

Fig. 1-2-15

Trends in orders for measures related to facilities for hazardous materials

27

(7) Onsite Inspections and Orders
Municipal mayors and similar officials can perform
onsite inspections on facilities for hazardous materials
and other such facilities to ensure that their installation,
construction, and establishment of equipment, as well as
storage or handling of hazardous materials, are incompliance with the standards established in the Fire
Services Act. These can be carried out when said official
deems it necessary to prevent fires that arise consequent
upon the storage or handling of hazardous materials.
In FY2015, onsite inspections were carried out a totalof 198,862 times at 183,684 facilities for hazardous
materials.
In cases where violations of the Fire Services Act
were discovered as a result of the onsite inspections,these municipal mayors and other officials can issue avariety of different orders to the owners of said facilities
for hazardous materials. These include orders to comply
with regulations on storage and handling, orders to takemeasures related to standards for installing, constructing,or establishing equipment, and more.
In FY2015 municipal mayors or similar officials
issued such orders to take measures in 225 cases. (Fig.
1-2-15)

2. Securing Petroleum Pipelines(1) Safety Regulations for the Petroleum Pipeline
Business
Regarding those petroleum pipelines which are used totransport petroleum in response to general demand, theiroperators must listen to the opinions of the Minister ofInternal Affairs and Communications regarding
formulating basic plans and business licenses in order toensure safety pursuant to the Petroleum Pipeline BusinessAct enacted in 1972. What is more, the Minister ofInternal Affairs and Communications provides licenses
for construction plans, performs completion inspections,provides licenses for safety regulations, performs onsite
inspections, and more.
The facilities to which the Petroleum Pipeline
Business Act apply currently only include the pipelinestransporting airplane fuel to Narita International Airport,with other pipelines regulated as transfer handlingfacilities under the Fire Services Act.
(2) Ensuring the Safety of Petroleum Pipelines
Safety inspections are carried out periodically on thepipelines transporting airplane fuel to Narita
International Airport pursuant to the Petroleum Pipeline
Business Act. In addition, the business operators must do
everything they possibly can to ensure safety, such as
having maintenance and inspections carried out inaccordance with the technical standards established by
law.

28

Chapter 1

Current Status and Challenges for Disasters

Section3
Section 3

Countermeasures to Disasters at
Petroleum Industrial Complexes

Countermeasures to Disasters at Petroleum Industrial Complexes[ Current Status and Recent Trends in
Disasters at Petroleum Industrial Complexe]

2. Characteristics of Accidents(1) Number of Accidents by the Classification ofSpecified Business Establishments
Looking at the number of general accidents by theclassification of specified business establishments
reveals that Class 1 business establishments accounted
for 173 (147 of which were at layout businessestablishments* 13), which account for 73.9% of the total(Table 1-3-2).

[Current Status and Recent Trends in Disasters at Petroleum Industrial Complexes] White Paper P.86-87

1. Number of Accidents and Damage
The total number of accidents that occurred at
specified business establishments* 12 in petroleum
industrial complexes and other special disaster prevention
areas (see White Paper P27; hereafter referred to as“special disaster prevention areas”) in 2015 came to 235.
A breakdown of this reveals that there was one accident
from earthquakes and tsunamis (hereafter referred to as“earthquake-induced accidents”) and 234 accidents thatwere not earthquake-induced (hereafter referred to as“general accidents”). The number of earthquake-induced
accidents increased by one over those from the previous
year (zero), while general accidents declined by 19 fromthe previous year (253) (Fig. 1-3-1).
Looking at this by type of accident reveals there were
107 fires (an increase of 3 year-on-year), 7 explosions(an increase of 1 year-on-year), 118 leaks (a decrease of
17 year-on-year), and 3 other accidents (a decrease of 5
year-on-year) (Table 1-3-1).
Looking at trends in the number of general accidents
that have occurred reveals that these had been on adownswing since the enactment of the Act on thePrevention of Disaster in Petroleum Industrial Complexes
and Other Petroleum Facilities. However, this has been on
an upswing since 1994, and the number surged in 2006.
Since then, it continued to decline for two years in a row
in 2008 and 2009, after which it once again swung
upwards in 2010 before reaching a record high in 2014.
The number of casualties from general accidents that
occurred in 2015 came to 0 deaths and 33 injuries.
What is more, looking at the causes behind general
accidents reveals that physical factors such as corrosion
and other types of deterioration and poor workmanshipaccounted for 120 of the accidents (51.3%), while humanfactors such as inadequate operating confirmation andinadequate operation and maintenance accounted for 103(44.0%).

*12*13(2) Number of Accidents at Specified Business
Establishments by Business Category
As for the number of general accidents that occurredat specified business establishments by businesscategory, there were 75 chemical industry-related
accidents (32.0%), 74 petroleum and coal products
manufacturing industry-related accidents (31.6%), 36
steel industry-related accidents (15.4%), 21 electricalindustry-related accidents (9.0%), and 28 accidents inother business categories (12.0%).

[Current Status of Damage Countermeasures
at Petroleum Industrial Complexes][Current Status of Damage Countermeasures at Petroleum Industrial Complexes] White Paper P.87-91

In order to prevent disasters from occurring andspreading at petroleum industrial complexes, where large
quantities of hazardous materials, high pressure gasses,
and other flammable materials are concentrated, efforts
are made to establish comprehensive disaster prevention
structures for these. This includes by applying the various
regulations from the Fire Services Act, the High Pressure
Gas Safety Act, the Industrial Safety and Health Act, theAct on Prevention of Marine Pollution and Maritime
Disasters, and others, as well as by applying theregulations from the Act on the Prevention of Disaster inPetroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum
Facilities regarding issues like the layouts of the various
facilities and disaster prevention equipment.

Specified business establishments: These refer to Class 1 business establishments (business establishments where 10,000 kiloliters of petroleum or
more are stored or handled, or where 2 million cubic meters of high-pressure gas or more are processed) and Class 2 business establishments(business establishments where 1,000 kiloliters of petroleum or more are stored or handled, or where 200,000 cubic meters of high-pressure gas ormore are processed).
Layout business establishments: Business establishments from among Class 1 business establishments that handle both petroleum and high-pressuregases. Said business establishments are subject to layout regulations stipulating that their sites must be segmented off into six types of sections
according to their purpose, with these including manufacturing facility sections and storage facility sections (see P90).

29

Fig. 1-3-1

Trends in the number of accidents that occurred at petroleum industrial
complexes

Table 1-3-1

Accidents that occurred at petroleum industrial complexes(During each year)(Notes)12Prepared based on the Overview of Accidents at Specified Business Establishments in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Special
Disaster Prevention Areas (2014).
There was an earthquake-induced accident among the accidents from 2015.

Table 1-3-2

Number of general accidents by classification for specified businessestablishments(During 2015)(Notes)12Prepared based on the Overview of Accidents at Specified Business Establishments in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Special
Disaster Prevention Areas (2014).
The number of business establishments is as of April 1, 2014.

30

(2) Responses Measures when Disasters Occur
When disasters occur in special disaster prevention
areas, response measures consist of disaster management
responses carried out in a concerted manner by theprefecture, municipality, related agencies, specified
business operators and others under the leadership of thedisaster prevention headquarters, as stipulated by thedisaster prevention plan.
When disasters occur, firefighting agencies carry out
activities to curb the damage, give instructions regarding
the activities of disaster prevention organizations for
self-defense, and carry out other roles that are important
for the disaster response measures.

1. Current Status of Petroleum Industrial

Complexes and Other Special Disaster
Prevention Areas

As of April 1, 2016, 83 areas in which large quantitiesof petroleum or high pressure gas at or above certain
quantities have been designated as special disasterprevention areas in 102 municipalities in 32 prefectures
based on the Act on the Prevention of Disaster inPetroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum
Facilities (Fig. 1-3-2). These special disaster prevention
areas are under the jurisdiction of 90 fire defense
headquarters.
What is more, 686 business establishments serve as
specified business establishments subject to the regulationsof the Act on the Prevention of Disaster in Petroleum
Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities. Of
these, 363 are Class 1 business establishments (including
174 layout business establishments) and 323 are Class 2
business establishments.
See White Paper Attached Document 38 for
information on things like the amount of petroleum thatcan be stored and handled and the amount of highpressure gas that can be disposed of in special disasterprevention areas.

(3) Maintaining the Firefighting Capabilities ofMunicipalities Containing Special Disaster
Prevention Areas
There is the concern that disasters that occur within
special disaster prevention areas will be large in scaleand of a specialized type. Therefore, it is important tomaintain firefighting capabilities in order to respond to
said disasters. Through the Firefighting Maintenance
Policies, which are based on municipal firefighting
agencies, the FDMA denotes those firefighting
capabilities that must be retained in order to handle
disasters involving special disaster prevention areas, andstrives to maintain these.
As of April 1, 2016, the firefighting agencies inmunicipalities containing a special disaster prevention
area were found to be equipped with 76 large chemical
firetrucks, 60 large, elevated water trucks, 87 foam
solution transport vehicles, 21 large, elevated chemical
water trucks, 2,988 kl of 3% fire-extinguishing foam,
580 kl of 6% fire-extinguishing foam, 21 fireboats, andmore.
What is more, 27 foam solution storage facilities, 10
portable foam cannons, and other equipment is equippedin prefectures that contain special disaster prevention
areas. This is designed to complement the firefighting
capability of the municipalities while also enhancing andstrengthening the disaster prevention structures for the
special disaster prevention areas.

2. Disaster Prevention Structures at
Prefectures and Firefighting
Agencies(1) Establishing Disaster Prevention Schemes
The prefectures that contain special disasterprevention areas are moving forward with establishingdisaster prevention structures in a comprehensive andsystematic manner based on the Act on the Prevention ofDisaster in Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other
Petroleum Facilities. This is being done throughconcerted efforts together with relevant agencies
centering primarily on disaster prevention headquarters
at petroleum industrial complexes and other locations(hereafter referred to as “disaster prevention
headquarters”). The disaster prevention headquarters
carry out operations such as preparing disasterprevention plans for petroleum industrial complexes andother locations (hereafter referred to as “disasterprevention plans”), liaising and coordinating with
relevant agencies when disasters strike, and promoting
research studies on disaster prevention.

31

Fig. 1-3-2

No.

Designation status for petroleum industrial complexes and other special disasterprevention areas

Special disasterprevention areas

No.

1
2
2-2
3
4
4-2
4-3
5
6
6-2
7
8

KushiroTomakomai
Ishikari
Muroran
HokutoShiriuchi
Mutsuogawara
Aomori
Hachinohe
Kuji
Shiogama
Sendai

14
15
16
19
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

9

Oga

28-2

10

Akita

11

Special disasterprevention areas

No.

Sakata30

Fukui coast47

11-12 Hirono

31

Shimizu

47-2

KinuuraPort of Nagoya coast
Yokkaichi coast
Owase
Osaka North Port
Sakai Senboku coast
Kansai International Airport
Misaki
Kobe
Higashiharima
Himeji coast
Ako
Northern coast in north
Wakayama
Central coast in north
Wakayama
Southern coast in north
Wakayama
Kobo

12
13

32
33

AtsumiTahara48
49

Mizushima coast
Fukuyama/Sasaoka

Iwaki
Kashima coast

North Keiyo coast
Central Keiyo coastSouth Keiyo coast
Keihin coast
Negishi coast
Port of Niigata (East)
Port of Niigata (West)
NaoetsuToyamaFuchiyu
Shinminato
FushikiPort of Nanao,
Mimuro

34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
44-2

29

Kanazawa Port north46

Special disaster prevention
areas

45

Specified Business Establishments(1) Establishing Disaster Prevention
Organizations for Self-defense
The Act on the Prevention of Disaster in Petroleum
Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities
mandates that those operators that establish specified
business establishments that contain special disasterprevention areas (specified business operators) must set

*15

*16

Special disasterprevention areas

50
51
52
53
54
55
57
58
59
60
61
62

Etajima
Nomi
Iwakuni/Otake
Kudamatsu
ShunanUbe/Onoda
Mutsurejima
Anan
Bannosu
NiihamaNamikata
Kikuma63

Matsuyama

64

Buzen

65

Kitakyushu

65-2

Shirashima

66
68

Fukuoka
Fukushima

No.
69
69-2
70
71
71-2
71-3
71-4
72
72-2
73
75

Special disasterprevention areas
AinouraKamigoto
Yatsushiro
Oita
Sendai
Kushikino
Kagoshima
Kiire
Shibushi
Henza
Onaha

*83 areas

up disaster prevention organizations for self-defense,
equip fire defense equipment, appoint disaster protection
managers, prepare disaster prevention regulations, andso forth. It also stipulates that they are to establish joint
disaster prevention associations,* 14 wide-area joint
disaster prevention associations,* 15 and special disasterprevention area councils for petroleum industrial
complexes and the like (hereafter referred to as “areacouncils”)* 16 in order to establish disaster prevention
structures through the combined efforts of the specified
business establishments.

3. Disaster Prevention Structures at

*14

No.

Joint disaster prevention associations: Disaster prevention associations jointly established by the specified business operators involved with specified
business establishments containing a single special disaster prevention area in order to carry out some of the tasks of the disaster prevention
organization for self-defense.
Wide-area joint disaster prevention associations: Joint disaster prevention associations covering a wide area jointly established by specified business
operators involved with specified business establishments containing areas in which there are two or more special disaster prevention areas to carry outtasks related to disaster prevention activities by using large volume foam cannons and other equipment.
Ring fires: Fires that occur at floating roof outdoor storage tanks in a ring pattern all the way around the tank in the gap between the floating roof and thetank’s side panel

32

As of April 1, 2016, disaster prevention organizations
for self-defense had been established at every specified
business establishment (686 business establishments). In
addition, 74 joint disaster prevention associations, 11
wide-area joint disaster prevention associations, and 55
area councils had been established. These disasterprevention organizations for self-defense, joint disasterprevention associations, and wide-area joint disasterprevention associations are constantly equipped with
5,642 disaster prevention personnel, 89 large chemicalfire trucks, 51 large, elevated water trucks, 139 foam
solution transport vehicles, 114 large, elevated chemical
water trucks, 24 high capacity foam cannons, 26 oilrecovery vessels, and more.
What is more, the law states that these specified
business establishments must establish embankments toprevent oil spills, outdoor water supply equipment for
firefighting, and emergency notification systems
according to their size. As of April 1, 2016, 144 businessestablishments had installed embankments to prevent oil
spills, 504 had installed outdoor water supply equipment
for firefighting, and 570 had installed emergency
notification systems, respectively.

High capacity foam systems are a type of firefighting
equipment that consist of high capacity foam cannons,
feed pumps, foam mixers, and hoses. They have thecapacity to spray more than 10,000 liters of foam per
minute. A single high capacity foam cannon is capableof spraying anywhere from three to ten times as muchfoam as a conventional three-part set (consisting of alarge chemical firetruck, large, elevated water truck, anda foam solution transport vehicle).
At present, high capacity foam systems with thecapacity to spray anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 liters
per minute are stationed at 12 wide-area joint disasterprevention associations throughout Japan.

(2) Equipping High Capacity Foam Systems
During the Takachi-Oki Earthquake that occurred in
September 2003, damage that included damage to andoil leaks from numerous outdoor storage tanks occurredat an oil refining business establishment in TomakomaiCity. In addition, approximately 54 hours after theearthquake struck all of the floating roof outdoor storage
tanks caught fire.
Before this disaster struck, it had been assumed thatthe fires that would occur at floating roof outdoor storage
tanks would be ring fires.* 17 But out of consideration
for the risk of earthquakes occurring in Japan, theassumption that had to be made with the floating roof
outdoor storage tanks was that a fire would spread to allof the tanks.
In light of this, the Act on the Prevention of Disasterin Petroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum
Facilities was revised in June 2004 and the order for theenforcement of this law was revised in November 2005
to strengthen and enhance disaster prevention structures.
Furthermore, it was mandated that specified businessestablishments must equip themselves with highcapacity foam systems, which were a new type offirefighting equipment then, by November 2008 in orderto respond to fires that fully envelop floating roof
outdoor storage tanks.

(3) Enhancing Disaster Prevention Structures for
Self-defense
The fact that petroleum industrial complexes handle
large quantities of hazardous materials and the like andhave equipment that is complexly interconnected makes
firefighting activities difficult, and so such carry the riskthat this will result in enormous damage. Therefore, whensuch disasters occur, disaster prevention organizations for
self-defense and joint disaster prevention associations arecalled upon to carry out precise firefighting activities. In
addition, the disaster prevention personnel responsible forsaid activities require extensive knowledge and skills. The
FDMA has denoted firefighting activities for disasterprevention organizations for self-defense and others in
documents like Introduction to Disaster Prevention
Activities for Disaster Prevention Organizations for Selfdefense, Guidelines for Education and Drills for Disaster
Prevention Personnel, and Disaster Prevention Activities
Using High Capacity Foam Systems, in an effort toenhance disaster prevention structures for self-defense.

4. Layout Regulations for Business Establishments(1) Layout Regulations
Just regulating each individual facility at the businessestablishments that form petroleum industrial complexes
as discrete units is not enough to prevent the spread ofdamage at such complexes. Rather, the businessestablishments as a whole must take measures from the*17

Abnormal phenomena: Fires, spills of oil and other substances, and other such abnormal phenomena at specified business establishments.

33

perspective of preventing disasters and mitigating
damage from them.
Therefore, the Act on the Prevention of Disaster inPetroleum Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum
Facilities mandates that layout business establishments
must establish certain standards related to establishingfacility areas on their sites and ensuring passageways. It
also mandates that in cases like where businessestablishments are newly established or change theirfacility area layouts, they must provide notification of
the relevant plans for this. It also says that they must
undergo confirmation after these have been completed toensure consistency with the plan (layout regulations).

Fig. 1-3-3

The quantities of oil stored and handled and thequantities of high pressure gas processed at layout
business establishments came to roughly 60% and 98%,
respectively, of that for the specified businessestablishments as a whole (as of April 1, 2016).
(2) Status for New Establishment and Other
Notifications
The number of notifications for new establishmentsor changes in FY2015 from 174 layout businessestablishments (as of April 1, 2016) came to 6, while thenumber of confirmations in the same year came to 8 (Fig.
1-3-3).

Status for the notification and confirmation of new business establishments
subject to layout regulations(2) Establishing Green Buffer Zones for Disaster
Prevention
Regulations were established in the Act on thePrevention of Disaster in Petroleum Industrial
Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities in relation tomatters like installation plans and the cost burden forgreen buffer zones for disaster prevention established by
local governments in the vicinities around special
disaster prevention areas in order to prevent damage insaid areas from spreading to the surrounding regions.

5. Other Disaster Countermeasures(1) Establishing Disaster Response Structures
The Act on the Prevention of Disaster in Petroleum
Industrial Complexes and Other Petroleum Facilities
states that specified business operators must report tofirefighting agencies immediately when any abnormal
phenomena occurs.* 18 It also mandates that disasterprevention organizations for self-defense, joint disasterprevention associations, and wide-area joint disasterprevention associations must take the necessary
measures in order to prevent disasters from occurringand spreading.

*18

Abnormal phenomena: Fires, spills of oil and other substances, and other such abnormal phenomena at specified business establishments.

34

Chapter 2Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities

Section1
Chapter 2
Section 1

Fire Defense Structures

Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities
Fire Defense Structures White Paper Page 134-137(2) Volunteer Fire Corps
Volunteer fire corps are municipal, non-standing
firefighting agencies. The volunteer firefighters thatcomprise their members have other main occupations,and engage in fire and disaster defense activities basedon their love for their hometown and a desire to protect
it under the thinking that they should be the ones toprotect their own communities themselves. They do thisas local government employees in special part-time
positions vested with authority and responsibility.
As of April 1, 2016, the number of volunteer fire
corps throughout Japan came to 2,211, while theirvolunteer members numbered 856,278. They have been
established in every municipality (Table 2-1-1, Fig. 21-1).
Volunteer fire corps have the unique qualities ofbeing:
・Rooted in local communities (volunteers live or workwithin the jurisdiction)
・Able to mobilize personnel (there are roughly 5.3times the number of volunteers as there are regular
firefighters)
・ Able to respond at a moment’s notice (volunteers
acquire the skills and knowledge to respond todisasters through routine education and training).
By harnessing these qualities, they are able to engage in
the initial firefighting when fires break out and deal withany residual fires, as well as sound warnings and carryout rescue activities when storm and flood disasters
occur. In addition, when large-scale disasters occur, they
engage in activities like assisting with resident
evacuations and safeguarding against disasters, as wellas giving instructions to evacuated residents in cases
where they safeguard civilians. Volunteer fire corps playa major role in ensuring the safety and security of theircommunities, such as by overseeing fire defense
activities in an across-the-board manner. This isparticularly true in towns and villages without a standing
fire defense structure, where fire defense headquarters
and fire stations have not been established.
What is more, the volunteer fire corps engage inactivities that are rooted in local communities during
times of normalcy, such as raising awareness of fire
prevention and disseminating first-aid treatment. They
also play a major role in improving local fire prevention
capabilities and revitalizing local communities.

1. Fire Defense Organizations(1) Standing Firefighting Agencies
Standing firefighting agencies refer to the fire defense
headquarters and fire stations established in municipalities
that are staffed by full-time personnel. As of April 1, 2016,
there were 733 fire defense headquarters and 1,714 firestations established throughout Japan (Table 2-1-1).
There are 163,043 firefighters, of which 4,597 are
women (Table 2-1-1, Fig. 2-1-1).
The current firefighting structures found inmunicipalities can largely be categorized into: [1]Municipalities with both fire defense headquarters andfire stations (so-called standing fire defense) as well as
volunteer fire corps (so-called non-standing fire defense),and [2] Towns and villages with only volunteer fire corps.
As of April 1, 2016, 1,690 municipalities had
switched over to a standing fire defense structure,
whereas 29 towns and villages had failed to do so. This
brings the percentage of municipalities that haveswitched over to a standing fire defense structure(standing ratio) to 98.3% (100% for cities and 96.9% fortowns/villages). This conversion has taken placevirtually nationwide, barring some towns and villages inmountainous regions or on remote islands, with 99.9%of the population now covered by standing fire defense
structures.
Of these, there have been 291 fire defense
headquarters established by special district authorities orextended associations (22 of which were established byextended associations). The 1,109 municipalities that haveorganized these (367 cities, 602 towns, and 140 villages)
correspond to 65.6% of the total number of municipalities
that have switched to a standing fire defense structure.
What is more, the number of municipalities outsourcing
this work comes to 139 (34 cities, 85 towns, and 20
villages), which corresponds to 8.2% of the total numberof municipalities that have switched to a standing fire
defense structure (Fig. 2-1-2).

35

Table 2-1-1

Current status of municipal fire defense organizations(As of April 1 of each year)(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey of the Current Status of Fire Prevention and Earthquake Countermeasures and the Report on Personnel Changes
concerning Fire Defense Headquarters and Volunteer Fire Corps.

Fig. 2-1-1

Trends in the number of firefighters36

Fig. 2-1-2

Breakdown of the establishment method for fire defense headquarters

defense communication equipment plays an enormousrole in such contexts. Such equipment includes dedicatedphone lines for reporting fires, fire defense
communication networks, and more.

2. Fire and Disaster Defense Facilities(1) Maintenance of Fire Trucks and Other
Equipment
Fire defense headquarters and fire stations areequipped with the fire pump vehicles, ladder-equipped
vehicles (including vehicles with folding ladders),
chemical fire trucks, ambulances, rescue vehicles, fire
protection helicopters, and other equipment that theyneed for their firefighting activities.
In addition, volunteer fire corps are equipped withvehicles such as fire pump vehicles, small power pumptransport vehicles, and transport vehicles for rescue
supplies (Table 2-1-2).
Table 2-1-2

A. Calls to 119
Dedicated phone lines for reporting fires refer todedicated phone lines whereby firefighting agencies canreceive emergency reports related to fires and medical
emergencies from people providing notification.
The telecommunication number related to emergency
reports to firefighting agencies has been set as “119” asper regulations on telecommunication numbers (seeWhite Paper “Fig. 2-10-2. Overview of the fire anddisaster defense communication network” on p. 226).
The number of incidents reported to 119 throughout
2015 came to 8,250,665. A breakdown of the reported
details shows that the number of reported cases related
to medical emergencies and rescues accounted for 68.1%
of the total (Fig. 2-1-3).

Number of firefighting
vehicles owned(As of April 1, 2016) (Unit: Vehicles, boats, or machines)

Fig. 2-1-3(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey of the Current Status of Fire
Prevention and Earthquake Countermeasures, the Survey on the
Implementation Status of Emergency Services, and the Survey on
the Implementation Status of Rescue Work.

(2) Fire Defense Communication Equipment
In order to minimize the damage from fires and otherdisasters, it is important to quickly become aware of said
fires and disasters and have firefighting agencies rapidly
arrive at the scene. In addition, it is also important tocollect information and quickly and clearly issue
instructions and orders at the scene of the incident. Fire

37

Number of reports to 119(by the reported details)

Following the recent popularization of cell phones
and IP phones* 19 (hereafter referred to as “cell and othertypes of phones”), the number of reports to 119 from celland other types of phones have risen, with their shareversus the total number of reports coming to 38.6% and23.8%, respectively (Fig. 2-1-4).
Fig. 2-1-4

Through this, as of April 1, 2016 the number of fire
defense headquarters that are now able to determine thelocation information when they receive 119 reports fromcell and other types of phones is now 705 (of which 589
headquarters use the Integrated Location Information
Notification System) as a result of the Location
Information Notification System and Integrated
Location Information Notification System.

Number of reports to 119 (bytype of connection)

B. Fire Defense Communications Networks
Fire and emergency radios are an important piece ofequipment. They are considered necessary for situations
where a fire defense headquarters needs to provide
instructions to fire brigades, rescue crews, and others
who are active at the scenes of disasters, or for situations
where orders are to be given and information collected
at the scenes of fires. What is more, fire defense phonelines are dedicated phone lines that are used forcommunications such as simultaneously relaying
information and orders when reports are received
between fire defense headquarters, fire stations, andbranch offices.
On the other hand, the image information recordedby the cameras equipped on fire protection helicopters
are used nationwide and in local regions through the useof satellite communication networks.
(3) Water Sources for Firefighting
Water sources for firefighting are an absolutely
crucial component, together with fire trucks and otherequipment, when it comes to carrying out firefighting
activities. Generally speaking, these are categorized into
artificial sources like fire hydrants and fire cisterns, aswell as natural sources like rivers, ponds, oceans, andlakes.
With artificial sources, a certain amount of water canbe drawn up at any time from near the location where thefire breaks out, and so they are frequently used as water
sources for firefighting during such activities. Ever since
the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in particular, theinstallation of fire cisterns and other equipment that has
been seismically-reinforced against earthquakes has
been actively promoted as a countermeasure for water
sources for firefighting to combat large-scale
earthquakes. In 2014 the Standards for Water Sources for
Firefighting (FDMA Bulletin No. 7 from 1964) wererevised to allow for their installation in a systematicmanner (Table 2-1-3).

The firefighting agencies that receive reports from119 hear out the status at the scene of the disaster andinformation on the disaster through their back-and-forthwith the person providing notification. Firefighting
agencies that have adopted advanced fire defense
command centers can display location information suchas the reported location on a map over a monitor via
reports to 119. There used to be challenges such as
numerous instances where the person providing
notification was unfamiliar with the surrounding
geographical area, especially for reports to 119 from cell
phones. But starting from April 2007, a system went into
operation in which the location information for the origin
location is notified to each firefighting agency when areport to 119 is received from a cell or other type ofphone (hereafter referred to as the “Location Information
Notification System”).
What is more, the FDMA has been considering
integrating this Location Information Notification
System together with the conventional New Origin
Location Display System* 20 from landline phones in aneffort to mitigate the financial burden on firefighting
agencies throughout the county. Following a report by
the Review Committee on Modalities for Integrating the
New Origin Location Display System with the Location
Information Notification System compiled in March
2009, the Integrated Location Information Notification
System began operating in October 2009.

*19
*20

IP (Internet Protocol) phones: A voice call service offered through the use of IP technology at the contact point between the telephone network and thephone terminals
New Origin Location Display System: This is a system that notifies fire defense headquarters of the location information (address information) of theperson making a report with regards to 119 reports from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West
Corporation landline phones.

38

What is more, with natural water sources it is often
the case that water can be taken in over a long period oftime without any restrictions on the amount that can betaken. As such, these sources play an important role as awater source for firefighting together with artificial
water sources. The other side of the coin is that there aresometimes cases where these water sources cannot be
used due to the season, or where restrictions are placedon where the water can be drawn from or the like.
Therefore, an appropriate combination of both artificial
and natural water sources must be established when it
comes to setting in place water sources for firefighting.

Table 2-1-3

Number of water sources for
firefighting installed (mainly
artificial water sources)(As of April 1 of each year)(Notes)1239

Prepared based on the Survey of the Current Status of Fire
Prevention and Earthquake Countermeasures.
The numbers in parentheses show the proportion, and theirunit is %.

Chapter 2

Section4
Section 4

Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities

Education and Training
Structures

Education and Training Structures White Paper Page166-171

circumstances prevent them from doing so. In addition,
the provisions stipulate that ordinance-designated cities
can also establish fire academies independently or
jointly together with the prefectures.
As of April 1, 2016, fire academies had been
established in all 47 prefectures, seven ordinancedesignated cities (Sapporo, Chiba, Yokohama, Nagoya,
Kyoto, Kobe, and Fukuoka), and in the Tokyo Fire
Department for a total of 55 such academies throughout
Japan (in the Tokyo Metropolitan Region, there are twoschools that have been jointly established: The Tokyo
Metropolitan Fire Defense Training Center and theTokyo Fire Department’s Fire Academy).
The FDMA has established the Standards for the
Establishment, Personnel, and Operation of Fire
Academies with the objective being to work to establish
and run fire academies. It also makes progress inensuring and improving the level of education andtraining at the fire academies.

1. Education and Training for Firefighters
It is essential to improve the knowledge and skills offirefighters to enable them to appropriately handle theincreasingly diverse disaster and emergency services andincreasing sophistication of fire prevention services. As
such, education and training for firefighters is incredibly
important.
Education and training for firefighters is offered byeach fire defense headquarters, fire stations, and volunteer
fire corps, as well as by the national government throughthe Fire and Disaster Management College and the fire
academies in the various prefectures. In addition to these,
there are also emergency medical technician (EMT)
training institutes that offer education designed to haverescue workers from around the country acquire national
qualifications as EMTs.
As this indicates, the national government, prefectures,municipalities, and others each undertake their own
respective functions as they work together in a cooperative
manner to provide education and training for firefighters.

(2) Types of Education and Training
The Education and Training Standards for Fire
Academies have been established to serve as standards forthe education and training offered at fire academies. The
fire academies formulate specific curricula out of respect
for the “Attainment objectives” stipulated in the standards
and by using the “Standard subjects and class hours”
found therein as reference guidelines. The types of
education and training offered include initial education,
specialized education, management education, and special
education for firefighters, as well as basic education,
specialized education, management education, and special
education for volunteer firefighters.
・Initial education refers to foundational education andtraining offered to all newly-hired firefighters. The
standards designate that 800 hours of class time isrequired for this.
・Basic education refers to basic education and training
offered to those people who must acquire knowledge
and skills as volunteer firefighters after joining a
volunteer fire corps due to their limited experience.
The standards designate that 24 hours of class time isrequired for this.
・Specialized education refers to expert education andtraining related to specific fields offered to active duty
firefighters and mainly those volunteer firefighters
who have completed their basic education.
・Management education refers to the education andtraining that is generally required for fire defense
management, and is offered to management personnel
and prospective candidates expected to advance onto
management.

2. On-the-job Training
Every firefighting agency carries out systematic
education and training (on-the-job training) based on
their respective regional characteristics on a routine basis.
In particular, those firefighters who are required toperform rigorous team activities based on instructions
and orders at the scenes of dangerous disasters require asense of duty and abundance of energy and vigor in orderto carry out their professional duties. Therefore, fire
defense headquarters work to improve their knowledge
and skills and lift their morale through various types of
education and training.
The firefighting agencies work to promote training
activities that are safe and effective. This is done throughefforts like the establishment of standards for on-the-job
training at the FDMA in the form of the Standards for Fire
Development Training Etiquette, Standards for Firefighting
Techniques, and Standards for Fire and Rescue Techniques,as well as safety management manuals both for during drills
and during protection activities (see p. 159 of the 2016
White Paper on Fire Service).

3. Education and Training at Fire Academies(1) Establishment of Fire Academies
The provisions of Article 51 of the Fire Organization
Act mandate that prefectures must establish fire
academies independently or jointly, except in cases
where financial circumstances or other special

40

・ Special education refers to education offered forspecial objectives that fall outside the bounds of theeducation and training mentioned above.

attended education and training either at fire academies
or through the dispatch of teachers from said academies(Table 2-4-2).
Since volunteer firefighters each have their own main
occupations, in cases where it is determined that it will
be difficult to adequately provide them with educationand training at a fire academy, it has been stipulated thatteachers from said academies can be dispatched locallyto provide education and training. Many of the fire
academies have adopted this approach.
What is more, education and training is also provided
by fire academies to people other than volunteer fire
corps members to the extent that doing so does notinterfere with the education and training of said members.
In FY2015, education and training was provided to a
total of 19,360 people, including personnel from local
public bodies, local voluntary disaster prevention
organizations, women’s (female) firefighting clubs, andvoluntary firefighting organizations at companies.

(3) Enhancing and Strengthening the Education
and Training at Fire Academies
Sophisticated firefighting activities are required dueto the increasing size and complexity of disasters. In
addition, prevention work also continues to growincreasingly sophisticated and specialized as a result ofrevisions to fire defense laws and ordinances.
Against this background, the knowledge and skills
that firefighters need in order to properly carry out theirprofessional duties must be further improved upon.
Therefore, partial revisions were made to both theStandards for the Establishment, Personnel, andOperation of Fire Academies and the Education andTraining Standards for Fire Academies in March 2015
with the goal of working to enhance and strengthen the
education and training offered at fire academies.
As part of the revisions, facilities capable of holding
practical training by simulating actual disasters(simulated firefighting training equipment, earthquake
training facilities, etc.) were added as facilities thatshould be set in place as standard practice. In addition,
the method for calculating the number of teaching
personnel at fire academies was revised out ofconsideration for safety management aspects, andrevisions were also carried out regarding the proper
allocation of class subjects and class hours based on thechallenges of and need for fire defense.

(5) Teaching Faculty
As of April 1, 2016, of the 543 teaching faculty
members at fire academies, 276 had been dispatched fromfire defense headquarters. This is done in order to obtainteachers (who require expert knowledge and skills on
things like firefighting activities and onsite inspections)from among the municipal firefighters who are directly
engaged in firefighting activities (Table 2-4-3).
For the future, it will be necessary to foster andensure teaching faculty for the fire academies from a
medium- to long-term perspective through initiatives
like training at the Fire and Disaster Management
College, as well as exchanges with prefectural and otherdepartments and municipal firefighting agencies.

(4) Holding of Education and Training
In FY2015 a total of 33,419 firefighters attended
education and training at fire academies (Table 2-4-1).
As for volunteer firefighters, in FY2015 a total of 47,906
Table 2-4-1

Holding of education andtraining aimed at firefighters

Table 2-4-2(People)Holding of education andtraining aimed at volunteer
firefighters(People)(Source)(Source)

Prepared based on the Survey on Education and Training at Fire
Academies.
* Graduates of both the Local Command Course and the Branch Supervisor
Course were counted as having completed the Supervisory Management
Class.
* The Intermediate Management Class was replaced with the Supervisory
Management Class through the partial revisions to the education andtraining standards for fire academies from March 2014.

Prepared based on the Survey on Education and Training at Fire
Academies.

41

Table 2-4-3

Number of teaching faculty at fire academies(As of April 1, 2016) (Unit: People)(Source)1234Prepared based on the Survey on Education and Training at Fire Academies.
Of the teachers, those labelled as “Dispatch” refer to teachers dispatched from fire defense headquarters to engage in their professional duties
at a fire academy.
“Full-time” refers to teachers who engage in their professional duties at a fire academy on a full-time basis.
“Part-time” refers to teachers who are engaged in professional duties beyond those they have at a fire academy.

through the combined use of steam and smoke machines.
In addition, these also include a training facility wheretrainees can experience a real fire in which theyexperience the same changes in the environment that
occur at the scene of an actual fire in which wood isburning inside a container.
The dormitory has a south wing that canaccommodate 172 people and a north wing that canaccommodate 52. In addition, in FY2015 it was outfittedwith a dedicated facility for women (the Sakura Club),including the bathrooms, restrooms, changing rooms,
and lounges women need for dormitory life.
As for education and training vehicles, the college isequipped with command vehicles, ordinary pumpvehicles, pump vehicles equipped with water tanks,
rescue work vehicles, special disaster response chemicalvehicles, disaster support vehicles, and high-grade
emergency vehicles.

4. Education and Training and Technical Assistanceat the Fire and Disaster Management College

The Fire and Disaster Management College provides
the advanced education and training needed for
management to the personnel engaged in firefighting
operations at the national and prefectural level, as wellas to municipal volunteer fire corps members. In addition,it also provides the necessary technical assistance related
to education and training for fire academies at theprefectural level.
(1) Facilities and Equipment
The Fire and Disaster Management College's
education and training facilities consist of a main building,a secondary building, training facilities, and a dormitory.
The main building contains a large classroom that canaccommodate 250 people, three regular classrooms, anaudiovisual classroom, a scientific combustion
laboratory, and a library. In addition, it also contains
disaster response training rooms and other facilities forfostering trainees with the ability to assess situations andgive commands as leaders by experiencing a variety ofsimulated disaster scenarios.
The secondary building contains an auditorium that
can accommodate 300 people, as well as rescue training
rooms, special classrooms, an indoor training ground,and more.
The training facilities consist of an indoor fire
defense training building and an 11-story aboveground,multi-story training tower where trainees can run drills
in an environment where there is thick smoke and hot air(2) Holding of Education and Training
The Fire and Disaster Management College turnedout 1,048 graduates from its comprehensive classes andspecialized classes, and 577 graduates from its practicalcourses. This brings the total number of its graduatesfrom the time it was founded up through FY2015 to
57,501.
What is more, its employees numbered 1,910 people
in FY2016 (Table 2-4-4).
The college's classes were substantially reorganizedin FY2006, following which reviews have been carriedout where appropriate based on the needs of theattendees. As a result, in FY2015 20 classes and 10
practical courses were held throughout the year.

42

Table 2-4-4

Education and training implementation status

43

Regarding the contents of the education and training
for each course (lesson subjects), mental health, copingwith critical incident stress, crisis management, public
relations, and handling litigation have been incorporated
as subjects designed to cope with the new challenges thathave arisen as a result of changes in social conditions
according to the objectives of each class. What is more,
efforts are being made to round-out the contents of thecurriculum, such as by adding in training that simulatesreceiving commands during a fire, simulation training
for receiving assistance during a large-scale earthquake,and other such drills that make use of information
systems. Other examples of this include drills on
firefighting activities in environments that are similar to
those of an actual fir
e through the use of
training facilities that simulate the experience of being inan actual fire (hot training).
Moreover, some of the classes incorporate advancelearning over the internet (e-learning) in an effort toprovide efficient education and training within a limited
period of time.
In FY2015, practical courses aimed at those people
involved in education and training for volunteer fire
corps was newly established at prefectural and other fire
academies and fire defense headquarters to contribute topromoting and enhancing education and training forvolunteer fire corps. In addition to this, in recent years
short training courses have been offered for voluntarydisaster prevention organizations aimed at the personnel
in charge of education for said organizations. This has
been done based on the fact that disasters resulting fromlocalized heavy downpours, heavy snows, typhoons, andothers have been occurring frequently in different
regions.
What is more, the FDMA established the Review
Committee on Education and Training at the Fire andDisaster Management College with respect toestablishing even more advanced education and training
at the college moving forward. This is designed toreassess future modalities for management education, as
well as education and training for responding toimminent large-scale disasters and the like in light of theconvergence last year of a mass retirement of firefighters
and a trend in which others are advancing onto
management positions. It is also aimed at improving
capabilities for deploying the Emergency Fire Response
Teams given the revisions related to the reorganizationsof said teams.
In FY2016, a five-day practical course was newly
established as a course exclusively for women. Its primaryobjective is to provide support for career development for
female firefighting officials in an effort to expand training
opportunities for women. In addition, a framework was
established in which 5% of the trainees enrolled in eachcourse much be female firefighting officials, thereby
giving priority to the matriculation of women.

Furthermore, for the holding of large-scaleinternational events (such as the 2020 Tokyo Olympic
and Paralympic Games), the FDMA will increase thenumber of days of education for its NBC Course from 10
to 15 in an effort to enhance NBC disaster response
capabilities by FY2020, when the Olympics are to beheld.
(3) Technical Assistance for Fire Academies
The education and training provided at prefecturalfire academies must be enhanced and strengthened
owing to the increasing diversity and growing scale ofthe situations resulting from natural disasters, fires, andaccidents. The Fire and Disaster Management College
provides the following sorts of technical assistance inorder to achieve this.
A. Education and Training for Fire Academy
Principals and Teachers
The education and training at the Fire and Disaster
Management College includes orientation education forfire academy principals as part of classes for newlyappointed fire chiefs and principals, as well as
orientation education for fire academy teachers as part ofclasses for newly-appointed teachers.
The classes for newly-appointed teachers provide
education centered mainly around learning teaching
techniques. In addition, they also incorporate practices
in which the teachers actually give lectures, and provide
training for educational leaders at the fire academies.
The other classes for specialized education beyond
those for newly-appointed teachers also strive to foster
educational leaders as one of their objectives, and offer
learning on teaching techniques and practice with giving
lectures as part of this.
B. Dispatch of Lecturers
Lecturers on fire suppression duty, prevention,
emergency medical service, rescue, and other forms offire service administration and firefighting techniques
are dispatched in response to requests from fire
academies in order to enhance the educational content at
said academies. Lecturers were dispatched a total of 117
times in FY2015.
C. Editing Firefighting Textbooks
The FDMA edits the textbooks for beginners that areused at the fire academies. As of April 2016, it had issued
21 types of textbooks.
D. Providing Information on Lecturers, etc.
The FDMA provides a roster of the names ofgraduates from the Fire and Disaster Management
College, information on lecturers, and more. This isdesigned to secure lecturers who have acquired a certain
level of knowledge and skills in specialized areas, aswell as to contribute to further improving the quality ofthe education and training offered by the fire academies.

44

(4) Special Lectures
With a view to the hosting of the Rugby World Cup
2019, special lectures are being planned for 12
locations in prefectures where the venues will belocated over the next three years. In FY2016, lectures
on topics like safety management, responding to masscasualties, and NBC responses were held at four
locations in Iwate Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture,
Kumamoto Prefecture, and Kanagawa Prefecture.

(2) Fostering Lead EMTs
Now that more than 20 years have passed since theenactment of the Emergency Life-Saving Technician'sAct, efforts have been made to develop human resources
to provide leadership to other EMTs. Against thisbackdrop, EMTs with a wealth of experience provide
education related to onsite activities carried out inenvironments that differ from those within a hospital,such as the scenes of emergencies. The thinking is that
this has led to improving the quality of emergency
services and ensuring the trust of the public in them,while also contributing to lessening the educationalburden on fire defense headquarters and medical
institutions. Therefore, the roles that EMTs in aleadership position (lead EMTs) are being asked to play
are growing.
At the Review Committee on Modalities for
Emergency Services hosted by the FDMA in FY2013,
the requirements on lead EMTs and the educational
curriculum needed in order to foster them were discussed.
Owing to this, the education needed in order to receive
accreditation as a lead EMT began being offered by the
Emergency Life-Saving Technique Academy of Kyushu
in May 2014, and through the Emergency Course at the
FDMA's Fire and Disaster Management College startingfrom September 2014.
In addition, the FDMA prepared the Textbook for
Fostering Lead EMTs in November 2015. This serves asa uniform nationwide standard for developing curriculumwith more specific educational content with a view
towards further promoting the fostering of lead EMTs andtheir application nationwide.

5. Other Education and Training(1) Fostering Emergency Medical Technicians(EMTs)
When it comes to education and training for
fostering EMTs, the Foundation for Ambulance Service
Development has established the Emergency LifeSaving Technique Academy of Tokyo (with a capacityof 600 people a year) and the Emergency Life-Saving
Technique Academy of Kyushu (with a capacity of 200
people a year) to serve as training centers where rescue
workers can sit for the national exam for EMTs andbecome qualified as such.
What is more, EMT training facilities have also been
established by firefighting agencies in big cities. As of
FY2015, a combined total of approximately 1,180
firefighters had received education to become qualified
as EMTs, and had sat for the national exam.
These EMT training facilities provide education
based on the Designated Rules for EMT Schools andTraining Facilities (Ordinance No. 2 by the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology andthe Ministry of Health and Welfare of 1991).

45

Chapter 2

Section5
Section 5

Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities

Emergency Medical
Service Structures

Emergency Medical Service Structures White Paper P.172-181

society advances, the share accounted for by elderly
people will continue to trend upwards year by year (thiswas 55.5% the previous year).
What is more, elderly people accounted for a large
percentage of the people transported by ambulance forsudden illnesses (2,106,867 people, or 60.3%), while
there was a large percentage of adults transported for
traffic accidents (309,253 people, or 63.0%) and elderly
people for ordinary injuries (527,533 people, or 64.5%)(Table 2-5-4, Fig. 2-5-1).

1. Implementation of Emergency Medical Services(1) Emergency Medical Service Mobilization
The number of times emergency medical service
mobilizations were sent out via ambulances nationwide
in 2015 came to 6,054,815 (an increase of 69,894, or
1.2%, from the previous year). This has consistently
continued to trend upward since the year 2004, when thenumber of cases exceeded 5 million for the first time.
The number of times emergency medical service
mobilizations were sent out taken as a daily average isapproximately 16,589 (this was 16,397 in the previousyear), meaning that emergency medical service teams
were mobilized at a rate of once every 5.2 seconds or so(this was 5.3 seconds the previous year).
What is more, the number of people transported byambulance has also consistently continued its upward
swing, coming to 5,478,370 people (an increase of
72,453 people, or 1.3%, from the previous year). Thismeans that one out of every 23 members of the public
has been transported by an emergency medical service
team (this was one out of every 24 people in the previousyear). Looking at this by the type of accident that led
people to be transported by an ambulance reveals that
3,491,374 people (63.7%) suddenly took ill, 817,931
people (14.9%) suffered an ordinary injury, 490,797
people suffered a car accident (9.0%), and so on (Table
2-5-1, Table 2-5-2, Attached Documents 40 and 41of the 2016 White Paper on Fire Service).
The number of times fire protection helicopters were
mobilized came to 3,375 (this was 3,456 the previousyear), and 2,882 people were transported by them (2,718
the previous year).

(4) People Transported for Sudden Illnesses byType of Illness
The number of people transported by ambulance due
to sudden illnesses in 2015 came to 3,491,374 people.
Looking at a breakdown of this by the categories foundin the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)
by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that281,703 people were transported for brain diseases(8.1%), 302,081 people were transported for heart andother diseases (8.6%), 341,483 people were transported
for digestive system issues (9.8%), and 326,964 people
were transported for respiratory system issues (9.4%)(Fig. 2-5-2).
(5) Time Required to Arrive at the Scene
Looking at a breakdown of the 6,054,815 cases inwhich ambulances were mobilized in 2015 by the timerequired to arrive at the scene (time it took to arrive at
the scene after the 119 report was received) reveals thatin the majority of cases it took between five and ten
minutes (3,787,142 cases, or 62.5% of the total) (Fig. 25-3).
Moreover, the average time required to arrive at thescene came to 8.6 minutes (the same as the previousyear), which is 2.1 minutes longer than it was ten years
ago (2005) (Fig. 2-5-5).

(2) People Transported by the Severity of Their
Injury or Illness
Of the 5,478,370 people transported by ambulances in
2015, the percentage of sick or injured people who died or
suffered severe or moderate injuries or illnesses came to50.4% of the total. The share of people with minor injuries
or illnesses that did not require hospitalization or othercases (cases where a doctor did not provide a diagnosis,etc.) came to 49.6% (Table 2-5-3).

(6) Time Required to Check the Patient into a
Hospital
Looking at a breakdown of the 5,478,370 people
transported by ambulance in 2015 by the time required
to check the patient into a hospital (time required tocheck the patient into a hospital after the 119 report wasreceived) reveals that the majority of people werechecked in between 30 and 60 minutes (3,349,560
people, or 61.2%). This was followed by those checkedin between 20 and 30 minutes (1,398,607 people, or
25.5%) (Fig. 2-5-4).
In addition, the average time required to check thepatient into a hospital came to 39.4 minutes (the same as
the previous year), which is 8.3 minutes longer than it
was ten years ago (2005) (Fig. 2-5-5).

(3) People Transported by Ambulance by Age
Group and Type of Accident
Viewing a breakdown of the 5,478,370 people
transported by ambulance in 2015 by age group reveals
that 13,054 of them were newborn infants (0.2%),
253,818 were young children (4.6%), 197,552 wereyouths (3.6%), 1,909,578 were adults (34.9%), and3,104,368 were elderly people (56.7%). As the aging of46

Table 2-5-1

Trends in the number of times emergency medical service mobilizations weresent out and the people transported(During each year)(Notes)12.

Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Service Implementation Status and the Survey of the Current Status of Fire Prevention andEarthquake Countermeasures.
Due to the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the figures were totaled by excluding data from the fire defense headquarters at the
Otsuchi District Administrative Affairs Association in Kamaishi and the fire defense headquarters in Rikuzentakata City from 2011.

Table 2-5-2

Number of mobilizations and people transported byambulance by type of accidents(During each year)(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Service Implementation Status.

47

Table 2-5-3

People transported by ambulance by type of accident and severity of illness or injury(During 2015)(Notes)

1
2
3
4
5
6.
7.

Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Service Implementation Status.
“Death” refers to cases where the person was confirmed dead at the time of the diagnosis.
“Serious illness/injury” refers to cases involving injuries or illnesses of a severity that requires three weeks of hospitalization or greater.
“Moderate illness/injury” refers to cases other than those where the severity of the injury or illness is not classified as “serious” or “minor.”“Minor illness/injury” refers to cases where the severity of the injury or illness does not require hospitalization.
“Other” refers to cases where a doctor did not offer a diagnosis, etc.
The numbers in parenthesis show the composition ratio, and their unit is %.

Table 2-5-4

People transported by ambulance by age group and type of incident(During 2015)(Notes)12.

3Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Service Implementation Status.
The age groups are as follows.
(1) Newborn infants: Less than 28 days old(2) Young children: Between 28 days and 7 years old(3) Adolescents: Between 7 and 18 years old(4) Adults: Between 18 and 65 years old(5) Elderly people: 65 and older
The 2015 census population does not include 1,453,758 people of indeterminate age.

Fig. 2-5-1

Trends in the composition rate of people transported by age group48

Fig. 2-5-2

No. of people transported due to sudden illness by type of illness2

Fig. 2-5-3

No. of mobilizations by timerequired for the ambulance
to arrive at the scene

Fig. 2-5-5

Trends in the amount of time it takes ambulances to arrive at the scene and thetime it takes to check the patient into a hospitalFig. 2-5-4

49

No. of people transported byambulance by time it took tocheck them into a hospitalTable 2-5-5(Notes)12345First-aid treatment administered by ambulance crew members

Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Service Implementation Status.
Since there are cases in which several types of first-aid treatment were administered to one person, the totals for the number of people transported
who received first-aid treatment and the items on first-aid treatment by type of incident do not align.
The numbers in parentheses show the proportion, and their unit is %.
The * symbol indicates first-aid treatment items that were expanded in 1991.
Shows the first-aid treatments administered to sick and injured patients transported by ambulance.

50(7) First-aid Treatment Administered by
Ambulance Crew Members
Of the 5,478,370 people transported by ambulancesin 2015, ambulance crew members administered first-aid
treatment to 5,366,739 patients (98.0%). This brings thetotal number of cases in which ambulance crew members
administered first-aid treatment to 20,246,134.
What is more, the total number of cases in which
first-aid treatment was administered by ambulance crew
members since their expansion in 1991 (items with *symbol in Table 2-5-5) came to 14,144,953 (a 3.2%
increase year-on-year (YoY)). Of these, the number ofcases in which EMTs administered first-aid treatment inorder to resuscitate a patient (defibrillation* 21(including cases administered by non-EMT ambulancecrews), ensuring respiratory tracts using laryngeal masks,
etc.,* 22 tracheal intubation, defibrillation, ensuring
intravenous channels,* 23 drug administration,* 24
EpiPen administration,* 25 measuring blood sugar,* 26
and administration of grape sugar* 27) came to 161,381(135,668 the previous year), which is a roughly 19%
increase year on year.

(2) Number of Emergency Medical Crews andEmergency Medical Crew Members
As of April 1, 2016, 5,090 emergency medical crews(an increase of 21 YoY) had been established (Fig. 2-5-7).
Since emergency medical crew members are engaged
in the important duty of saving people’s lives, they mustcomplete at least 135 hours’ worth of training courses on
emergency medical services (the former Emergency
Medical I Course). As of April 1, 2016, the number offirefighters who fulfilled this eligibility requirement
came to 121,577 (an increase of 3,621 YoY). Of these,
61,053 were engaged in emergency medical services as
emergency medical crew members (including not only
full-time emergency medical crew members, but also
emergency medical crew members who have been
appointed as such and who concurrently serve on
firefighting vehicles such as pump vehicles by riding
along with them) (Fig. 2-5-8).
What is more, of the firefighters who fulfilled theeligibility requirements to be emergency medical crew
members, the number who had completed 250 hours’
worth of emergency medical courses to enable them toprovide even more advanced first-aid treatment(including the former Emergency Medical Standard
Course and former Emergency Medical II Course) cameto 81,991 people (an increase of 2,718 YoY) nationwide.
Of these, 34,101 are engaged in emergency medical
services as emergency medical crew members.

2. Implementation Structure for Emergency Medical Services(1) Number of Municipalities Offering
Emergency Medical Services
The number of municipalities offering emergency
medical services as of April 1, 2016 came to 1,690
municipalities (791 cities, 738 towns, and 161 villages)(the special wards of Tokyo were counted as one city; thesame hereafter).
Emergency medical services are offered in 98.3% ofmunicipalities (same as last year), and cover 99.9% of
the total population (same as last year; the population
used is from the 2015 national census; the same
hereafter), which means that emergency medical
services can be received in virtually every region (Table
2-5-6, Attached Document 42 of the 2016 White
Paper on Fire Service).
When viewed by the configuration through which said
emergency medical services were offered, 443
municipalities offered them independently, 139 did so byoutsourcing them, and 1,108 did so through special districtauthorities and extended associations (Fig. 2-5-6).

*21
*22
*23
*24
*25
*26
*27

Fig. 2-5-6

Breakdown of theconfigurations by which
emergency medical services
are offered

Defibrillation: This refers to the application of electrical shock to lethal arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation) whereby minor tremors in the heart, such asheart spasms, make it impossible for blood to flow, as a means of dispelling said tremors.
Laryngeal mask: This is a type of ventilation tube used to ensure the openness of the respiratory tract. It is fastened in place so as to cover the larynx toensure open breathing channels.。
Ensuring intravenous channels: A process of securing transfusion channels by inserting needles or tubes intravenously. Ensuring intravenous channels
makes it possible to administer medications intravenously right away when they are needed.
Drug administration: This refers to administering adrenaline (also called epinephrine; simply called “adrenaline” hereafter) under the specific instructionsof a doctor.。
EpiPen administration: In cases where sick or injured patients whose lives are at risk from anaphylactic shock have been prescribed self-injectable
adrenaline formulations (EpiPen) in advance, EMTs will administer said adrenaline formulations (EpiPen).。
Measuring blood sugar: The measurement of blood sugar levels in sick or injured patients with impaired consciousness.
Administration of grape sugar: This refers to the administration of grape sugar under the specific instructions of a doctor.

51

Table 2-5-6

Trends in the number of municipalities offering emergency medical services（毎年 4 月 1 日現在）

(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey on Emergency Medical Service Implementation Status.

Fig. 2-5-7

Trends in the number of emergency medical crews

Fig. 2-5-8

Trends in the number of emergency medical crew members

52(3) Trends in the Number of EMTs and Medical
Crews with EMTs
As a result of the increasing sophistication of
emergency services, the FDMA promotes the fostering of
EMTs and the setting in place of structures for making useof them. The objective is a structure where at least one
EMT is stationed with every emergency medical crew.
The number of fire defense headquarters making use
of EMTs as of April 1, 2016 came to 732 of the total of
733 fire defense headquarters throughout Japan, for ausage rate of 99.9% (same as the previous year). The
number of emergency medical crews with EMTs came
to 5,008 (an increase of 49 YoY), which corresponds to
98.4% of the 5,090 emergency medical crews throughout
Japan (97.8% the previous year), with this rising year by
year. What is more, there were 34,223 firefighters with
EMT qualifications (an increase of 1,410 people YoY).
Of these, 24,973 had been put to use as EMTs (anincrease of 750 people YoY), with this number steadily
increasing year by year (Fig. 2-5-9, Fig. 2-5-10).

(5) Emergency Medical Services along Nationaland Other Expressways
When it comes to emergency medical services along
national expressways, the Seto-Chuo Expressway, andthe Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway (hereafter referred
to as “national and other expressways”), the East Nippon
Expressway Company, Central Nippon Expressway
Company, West Nippon Expressway Company, andHonshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company(hereafter referred to as “expressway companies”) areresponsible for road management operations andoffering centralized, independent emergency medical
services. Moreover, the municipalities along said
expressways are responsible for handling emergency
medical services as per the provisions of the Fire Service
Law. So it has been stipulated that both parties are towork together to properly and efficiently safeguard
human life. As of April 1, 2016, emergency medical
services along national and other expressways were
provided by municipal firefighting agencies over every
section of the 8,369 km of the length of expressway
currently in use. The expressway companies bear acertain extent of the financial burden that is placed on themunicipalities providing emergency medical services.

(4) Number of Ambulances
The number of ambulances owned by fire defense
headquarters throughout Japan as of April 1, 2016 came
to 6,210 (an increase of 26 YoY), including those for
emergency use. Of these, the number of high-standard
ambulances came to 5,877 (an increase of 108 YoY),
which corresponds to 95% of the total.
Fig. 2-5-9

Trends in the number of medical crews with EMTs

53

Fig. 2-5-10

Trends in the number of EMTs8

of percentages, these fell for the cases in which patientswith severe conditions or worse were transported, andheld steady in cases where patients were transported to
critical care centers. The percentages of cases in which
pregnant or perinatal patients and young patients weretransported both rose (Table 2-5-8).

3. Promoting Coordination between
Firefighting and Medical Care

(1) Acceptance of People Receiving Emergency
Transport at Medical Institutions * 28
Reports were received on cases in which problems
arose in choosing medical institutions to receive patientsduring emergency transport in regions all over Japan.
Based on these, in October 2007 the FDMA performed
the first survey on the actual state of acceptance forpregnant or perinatal patients transported from 2004 to
2006. Moreover, for the survey on the actual acceptancestatus regarding emergency transport in 2007, the survey
was carried out not only on pregnant and perinatal
patients, but also focused on patients with severe
conditions or worse, young patients, and patientstransported to critical care centers.
For the Survey on the Actual Acceptance Status at
Medical Institutions for Emergency Transport in 2015,
reductions were seen for every category regarding thenumber of cases in which four or more acceptanceinquiries were made compared with the same survey in2014. In terms of percentages, only that for cases inwhich young patients were transported held steady,while all the others decreased (Table 2-5-7). The numberof cases where the time spent at the scene was 30 minutes
or longer rose for both cases in which young patientswere transported and where patients were transported to
critical care centers. Yet conversely, this fell for cases
where patients with severe conditions or worse andpregnant or perinatal patients were transported. In terms*28(2) Standards on Patient Transport and Their
AcceptanceIn light of the occurrence of cases in which it isdifficult to select an accepting medical institution during
emergency transport, in 2009 the FDMA worked
together with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
to enact the Standards on Patient Transport and Their
Acceptance (hereafter referred to as the “acceptancestandards”) for the prefectures. It also revised the Fire
Service Law to include content mandating theestablishment of committees concerning the acceptancestandards. The revised Fire Service Law was enacted on
October 30, 2009. At present, committees have been
established in every prefecture, and acceptancestandards have been formulated as well. The hope is thatthrough the legally-mandated committees, theprefectures will survey and verify the transport ofpatients and their acceptance status based on theacceptance standards. Then, based on this, it is hopedthat they will tie the results of this in with making
improvements to the acceptance standards and so forth.
For its part, the FDMA works to get a grasp of thestatus of initiatives by and challenges for each of theprefectures. It also makes efforts to follow-up, such as
by broadly getting a grasp of and introducing caseexamples of initiatives by local regions that are striving
to operate this effectively.

Due to the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the figures were totaled by excluding data from the fire defense headquarters at the Otsuchi
District Administrative Affairs Association in Kamaishi between January and April 2011 and from the fire defense headquarters in Rikuzentakata City
between January and March 2011. Moreover, rescue activities by Emergency Fire Response Teams in the wake of the Great East Japan
Earthquake were excluded from the survey.

54

For its part, the FDMA has resolved to continue carryingout the necessary surveys and providing information tocontribute to improving the application of the acceptancestandards at the prefectural committees and to
discussions over revisions to them.
In light of the revisions to the Fire Service Law andthe fact that emergency transport is carried out based
upon the acceptance standards, local governmental
financial measures are being taken through special tax
grants with respect to the costs entailed by the assistancerendered to private secondary emergency medical
institutions by local public bodies in an effort to enhance
emergency medical care structures in local regions.

Each prefecture and local region gathers together
firefighting agencies and medical organizations andsometimes just medical organizations, as well as expert
medical practitioners, healthcare centers, welfare, police,
and other related organizations according to the local
circumstances in order to thoroughly discuss and share
their awareness of problems through ex-post inspectionsof transport and acceptance conditions. In addition,
through the creation of “relationships with a visible face”
on an everyday basis, it is important that they continue
to draft more specific and effective rules (revisions to
acceptance standards, etc.) geared towards smoothtransport and acceptance. Each group is being called
upon to make greater efforts regarding such initiatives.

Table 2-5-7

Trends in the number of cases where four or more acceptance inquiries weremade to medical institutions4(During each year)(Notes)123Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Acceptance Status at Medical Institutions for Emergency Transport in 2015.
There is some overlap.
The percentage indicates the percentage of each type against the total number of people transported.

Table 2-5-8

Trends in the number of cases where the time spent at the scene was 30 minutes
or longer(During each year)(Notes)123Prepared based on the Survey on the Actual Acceptance Status at Medical Institutions for Emergency Transport in 2015.
There is some overlap.
The percentage indicates the percentage of each type against the total number of people transported.

(3) Emergency Medical Care StructureWith regards to the notification status of emergency
hospitals and emergency clinics, which constitute theprimary destinations to which patients are taken, as ofApril 1, 2016 there were 4,292 such locations throughout
Japan (White Paper Attached Document 43).
There are 559 weekend and nighttime emergency
care centers (as of March 31, 2016) that ensure that
initial medical care can be received on weekends and atnights, which serve as the initial emergency medical carestructure. By way of the secondary medical carestructure, 2,733 hospitals on a hospital-group rotating
system and joint-use hospitals have been established (asof March 31, 2016), and so have 284 critical care centers(as of August 1, 2016) by way of the tertiary medical carestructure. Moreover, among the critical care centers areadvanced critical care centers capable of handling
patients with specific illnesses or injuries, such as
extensive burns, severed digits and limbs, and acutepoisoning, of which 36 locations have been set in place(as of August 1, 2016).

55

Approval for emergency hospitals and emergency
clinics is provided through emergency reporting
structures, while the installation of initial, secondary, andtertiary emergency medical care structures is performed
in an integrated manner under the medical care plansestablished by prefectural governors.

Under these emergency medical care structures andthrough the acceptance standards enacted by theprefectures through the provisions of the Fire Service
Law, a list of medical institutions that can provide
medical care according to patients’ conditions has been
compiled. Firefighting agencies use this list whencarrying out emergency transport operations.

56

Chapter 2Fire and Disaster Prevention Organizations and Activities

Section6 Rescue Structures
Section 6

Rescue Structures White Paper P.191-193

rescued.
Accidents caused by buildings has been the type ofincident with the greatest number of rescue activities since2008. In terms of the number of people rescued, starting in2013 it surpassed traffic accidents, which had been the typeof incident with the most people rescued since 1978, to
become the type with the most people rescued.
The number of rescue workers mobilized (which refers
to the total number of people mobilized in order to carry out
rescue activities) came to 1,328,039 in total. Of these, thenumber of firefighters mobilized came to 1,245,998 in total,of which 27.7% were mobilized due to traffic accidents,
while 27.3% were mobilized due to accidents due tobuildings. At the same time, the number of volunteer fire
corps members mobilized came to 82,041 in total, of which
73.5% were mobilized on account of fires.
Next, the number of people who engaged in rescue
activities (this refers to the number of people who actuallyengaged in rescue activities out of the number mobilized)
came to 546,334 in total. This means that 9.8 people on
average took part in each individual rescue activity. What ismore, in terms of the number of people engaged in eachindividual rescue activity by type of incident, storms, floods,
and other natural disaster incidents had the greatest number
at 20.6 people on average, followed by fires at 15.3 people(Fig. 2-6-1, Fig. 2-6-2, Table 2-6-2).

1. Implementation Status for Rescue Activities(1) Number of Rescue Activities and Number ofPeople Rescued
The life-saving rescues performed by firefighting
agencies refer to activities whereby human or machinepower is used to extricate people from dangerous
situations and transport the victims to safe locations.
Examples of such dangerous situations include fires,
traffic accidents, water accidents, natural disasters, andaccidents due to machines.
In 2015, torrential downpours in the Kanto andTohoku Regions in September 2015 caused extensive
flood damage, including breaching the embankments
along the Kinugawa River. During this, a great many
rescue activities were carried out in different regions
under difficult circumstances in which there were fears
that secondary disasters could occur. Examples of suchactivities include the fervent rescue activities in which
rescue boats and other means were used to rescue
residents who had been left stranded at home.
As for the implementation status for rescue activities
throughout Japan in 2015, 55,966 rescue activities werecarried out (a decrease of 729, or 1.3%, YoY) and 59,190
people were rescued (this refers to the number of people
rescued through rescue activities; an increase of 1,381,
or 2.4%, YoY) (Table 2-6-1, Attached Document 44of the 2016 White Paper on Fire Service).
As part of this, the primary reason for the decline in
the number of rescue activities is due to the fall in thenumber of rescue activities for traffic accidents (adecrease of 423, or 2.8%, YoY).
What is more, the main reason for the increase in thenumber of people rescued is due to the increase in storms,
floods, and other natural disasters resulting from thetorrential downpours in the Kanto and Tohoku Regionsin September 2015 (an increase of 1,971 people, or
214.5%, YoY).

2. Implementation Structure for Rescue Activities(1) Number of Rescue Crews and Number ofRescue Crew Members
Rescue crews are established in municipalities thathave fire defense headquarters and fire stations pursuant
to the Ministerial Ordinance Establishing Standards for
the Organization, Outfitting, and Establishment of Rescue
Crews (Ministerial Ordinance No. 22 of the Ministry ofHome Affairs from 1986; hereafter referred to as the“Rescue Ordinance”). They consist of members who havereceived specialized education related to lifesaving (140hours’ worth), as well as rescue and relief supplies and therescue vehicles equipped with these needed for rescue
activities. They are categorized into four classifications:rescue crews, special rescue crews, advanced rescue
crews, and special advanced rescue crews.* 29(2) Implementation Status of Rescue Activities
by Type of Incident
Looking at the status of rescue activities by type ofincident reveals that the numbers for accidents caused bybuildings and traffic accidents remain high in terms of boththe number of rescue activities and the number of people*29

The Rescue Ordinance stipulates that municipalities with a population of 100,000 people or more and a standing fire defense structure must establish a
special rescue crew. Core cities and the like must have one or more special rescue crews that serve as advanced rescue crews, and the Tokyo Fire
Department and ordinance-designated cities must have one or more advanced fire crews that serve as special advanced rescue crews.

57

Table 2-6-1(Notes)123Trends in the number of rescue activities and number of people rescued

Prepared based on the Survey on the Implementation Status of Rescue Operations.
This includes the number of activities by volunteer fire corps in municipalities where fire defense headquarters/fire departments have not been
established. The same holds true for the following data in this section.
Due to the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the figures were totaled by excluding data from the fire defense headquarters at the
Otsuchi District Administrative Affairs Association in Kamaishi and the fire defense headquarters in Rikuzentakata City from January 1–March 10,
2011.

(2) Ownership Status of Rescue Equipment for
Rescue Activities
Rescue equipment for rescue activities includes
equipment for removing heavy objects such as hydraulicspreaders, cutting equipment like hydraulic cutters,
detection and measurement equipment such as
inflammable gas measuring instruments, and more.
Advanced, specialized equipment has been deemednecessary for them to guard against the large-scale
earthquake disasters and terrorist disasters that could
potentially occur. As such, the FDMA makes efforts topromote the establishment and maintenance of rescue
work vehicles and rescue equipment by taking advantage
of grants for equipping Emergency Fire Response Teams,
as well as tax measures allocated to local governments
and more (Table 2-6-3).

As of April 2016, 1,418 crews had been establishedwithin 715 fire defense headquarters, and the number ofrescue crew members came to 24,449 people. This meansthat on average, roughly 2.0 rescue crews have been
established at each fire defense headquarters, with anaverage of 17.2 rescue crew members stationed on eachcrew. The number of fire defense headquarters and rescue
crews have been dropping as they spread out to coverbroader areas, but the number of rescue crews per fire
defense headquarters and the number of crew members per
rescue crew have been trending upward.

Fig. 2-6-1

Number of rescue activities
by type of incident

Fig. 2-6-2

58

Number of people rescuedby type of incident

Table 2-6-2

Number of mobilizations and status of activities by type of incident(During 2015)(Notes)

1
2
3
4
5
6

Prepared based on the Survey on the Implementation Status of Rescue Operations.
The numbers in parenthesis show the proportion (%). Less than whole units were rounded up, so in some cases the totals may not be consistent.
“No. of rescue workers mobilized” refers to the total number of people mobilized in order to carry out rescue activities.
“No. of people who engaged in rescue activities” refers to the number of people who actually engaged in rescue activities out of the number
mobilized.
“Accidents due to buildings” refer to accidents caused by the collapse of buildings, gates, fences, walls, and other facilities ancillary to buildings
or equivalent structures; accidents in which people were trapped within buildings; and accidents from people being caught between buildings.
“Other” refers to accidents other than the types listed above that necessitated rescue by firefighting agencies.

Table 2-6-3

Ownership status of rescue equipment for rescue activities and board vehicles
for carrying rescue crews(As of April 1, 2016)

3.

each division, a number of types of training are carriedout. There is basic training where individual crew
members practice basic skills, coordinated training
where crew members practice their individual skills
together with cooperation with other crew members, aswell as skills training where participating crew members
demonstrate everything from training assumptions to
rescue methods using creativity and ingenuity without
stipulations as to the equipment or training skills that will
be used.
The 45th meet was held on August 24, 2016 at
Matsuyama City, marking the first time it has been heldon Shikoku. Here, 697 crew members took part in theland division and 228 took part in the water division. The
46th meet will be held in Sendai City.

Holding National Firefighting and
Rescue Skills Meets

The National Firefighting and Rescue Skills Meet has
been held every year since 1972 (sponsored by the Japan
Firefighters Association, with the backing of the FDMA
and others). Its goal is to foster the physical strength,
mental toughness, and technical capabilities needed for
rescue activities, as well as to gather rescue crew
members from throughout Japan together to cultivatecrew members who can serve as examples to others
through competition and learning.
The National Firefighting and Rescue Skills Meet isdivided up into a land division and a water division. For

59

Section

8

Section 8

and the number of teams to 1,785 (with roughly 26,000
people if you include standby and replacement members).

Wide-area Joint Firefighting Support andEmergency Fire Response Teams

B. Enshrinement in Law through the 2003
Revisions to the Fire Organization Act

Wide-area Joint Firefighting Support and Emergency Fire Response Teams White Paper P.202-209

1. Wide-area Joint Support for Firefighting – Omitted

It has been pointed out that potential earthquakes
like a Tokai Earthquake, Tonankai/Nankai Earthquake,or an earthquake directly below the Tokyo Metropolitan
Region are imminent, as have the dangers of NBC
terrorism disasters. As such, scenarios can beenvisioned where it would be difficult to respond tosuch disasters promptly and precisely solely throughthe firefighting capabilities of the municipalities in the
afflicted region or those found in the afflicted
prefecture. Therefore, the Commissioner of the FDMA
has been vested with the necessary authority to work toenhance and strengthen emergency response structuresfrom a national perspective. In conjunction with this,the Act for the Partial Revision of the Fire Organization
Act was drafted in 2003 and entered into force in 2004.
This act includes content that includes prescribing
financial measures for the national government.
(a) Main content of the revised law
The main content of the revised law consists ofstaking out a clear legal position for the Emergency
Fire Response Teams, establishing the authority of theCommissioner of the FDMA to order mobilizations,formulating basic plans relating to the Emergency
Fire Response Teams, and the financial measures of
the national government.
(b) Legal position and mobilization orders by theCommissioner of the FDMA
The Emergency Fire Response Teams, which havebeen put to use based on certain guiding principles
since they were established, were given a clear legal
position within the Fire Organization Act through therevisions to this law. In addition, in the event that a
Tokai Earthquake or other large-scale disaster extends
over two or more prefectures or an NBC disaster wereto occur, the Commissioner of the FDMA shall be able
to issue the orders to take the necessary measures tomobilize the Emergency Fire Response Teams. Thisauthority to order mobilizations was established basedon the thinking that the national government bears
responsibility for deploying firefighting capabilities toafflicted regions in the form of ordering themobilization of the Emergency Fire Response Teamsfor large-scale disasters that should be handled from atruly nationwide perspective. The unprecedented,
enormous disaster of the Great East Japan Earthquake
was the first time this authority was exercised since it
was established.
(c) Enactment of the Basic Plan pertaining to theEmergency Fire Response Teams
It has been legally mandated that the Minister forInternal Affairs and Communications is to enact thePlan on Basic Items concerning the Organization andOutfitting of Facilities for the Emergency Fire
Response Teams (hereafter referred to as the “BasicPlan”). This Basic Plan was enacted in February 2004,
and established matters such as standards for

2. Emergency Fire Response Teams(1) Creation of the Emergency Fire Response
Teams and Their Enshrinement in Law via
Revisions to the Fire Organization Act
A. Creation of the Emergency Fire Response
Teams
The Emergency Fire Response Teams were created inJune 1995 through the cooperation of fire defense
headquarters from throughout Japan in order to create an
assistance structure through the mutual cooperation of
firefighting agencies from around the country. This was
based on the lessons from the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake from January 17, 1995, and designed to makeit possible to carry out lifesaving rescue activities whenlarge-scale disasters such as earthquakes occur within
Japan in a faster, more effective manner.
The system is structured so that during times ofnormalcy, the Emergency Fire Response Teams focus allof their energies on carrying out firefighting duties in theirrespective local regions. But once a large-scale disasteroccurs somewhere in Japan, firefighting teams mobilize ina concentrated manner to the afflicted region fromthroughout the country to respond to said disaster at therequest or instructions of the Commissioner of the FDMA.
There they engage in firefighting activities, including
lifesaving and rescue activities.
When they were first launched, the Emergency Fire
Response Teams consisted of 376 teams registered with
the FDMA to provide domestic assistance for firefighting.
They were comprised of rescue crews, emergency
medical crews, and more (these numbered roughly 4,000
people if you include standby and replacement members).
There were also 891 out-of-prefecture assistance teams
that engaged in activities between neighboring prefectures,
which consisted of firefighting teams and others (thesenumbered roughly 13,000 people if you include standby
and replacement members). This brought the total to 1,267
teams (with roughly 17,000 people if you include standby
and replacement members). In January 2011, a
registration system for fire teams was introduced in orderto enhance the mobilization structure for the Emergency
Fire Response Teams and response capabilities for various
disasters. What is more, a number of new types of teams
were established in order to handle increasingly
complicated and diverse disasters. These included special
disaster teams with the capacity to respond to special
disasters such as oil and chemical disasters, as well as
those involving toxic or hazardous substances, orradioactive materials, as well as air teams that use fire
protection helicopters and water teams that use
firefighting boats. This brought the types of teams to eight,
60

equipping and organizing the crews that comprise theEmergency Fire Response Teams, mobilization plans,
and targets for setting in place the necessary facilities.
When it was initially enacted, it set the target ofregistering 3,000 Emergency Fire Response Teams by
FY2008.
(d) Financial measures by the national government for
the Emergency Fire Response Teams
The mobilization of the Emergency Fire Response
Teams has been legally mandated in cases where they
have been ordered to mobilize by the Commissionerof the FDMA. Therefore, the expenses that are newly
required as a result of said mobilizations are to beborne by the national government as treasury
expenses as per Article 10 of the Local Government
Finance Act.
What is more, the establishment of facilities
pursuant to the Basic Plan were clarified in a legal
sense as constituting “expenses to be subsidized by
the national government.” In addition, the eligible
facilities and the subsidy rate (one-half) have been
established through government ordinance (Table 28-2).
(e) Use of equipment for Emergency Fire Response
Teams free of charge
With regard to those pieces of equipment fromamong the equipment needed for the organization of
the Emergency Fire Response Teams that it would be
inefficient for local public bodies to outfit and own
from a cost-effectiveness perspective, it is hard to
imagine that progress will be made in outfitting thiseven if government subsidies are provided for it.
There is some equipment that needs to be provided
quickly in order to fulfill the national government’s
responsibilities when it comes to large-scale andspecialized disasters. As such, it was stipulated that
this equipment is to be set in place by the national
government, but provided for use free of charge to theprefectures or municipalities to which the personnel
who are active as Emergency Fire Response Team
members belong.

(a) Main content of the revised law
The main content of the revised law consists ofestablishing the authority for prefectural governors toorder the mobilization of Emergency Fire Response
Teams that are already active in municipalities where
disasters have occurred, the establishment of
coordination headquarters for firefighting support
activities, and revisions to the requirements for theorders to mobilize the Emergency Fire Response Teamsby the Commissioner of the FDMA (Fig. 2-8-1).
(b) Establishment of the authority for prefectural
governors to order mobilizations
This stipulated that prefectural governors canorder the mobilization of Emergency Fire Response
Teams active in municipalities where they normallyoperate. This can be done in cases where a disaster has
occurred in two or more municipalities within aprefecture, and where it is deemed necessary for thesake of urgently providing firefighting support formunicipalities where a disaster has occurred that lie
outside of the municipalities in which said Emergency
Fire Response Teams normally operate. This structure
was set in place based on the fact that teams spanning
across municipal borders within the same prefecture
were mobilized for the 2004 heavy rainfall disasters
in Niigata and Fukushima, as well as the Mid Niigata
Prefecture Earthquake in 2004. In cases spanning
across prefectural borders, it has been stipulated that
the Commissioner of the FDMA shall coordinate this,since said coordination will span across two or more
prefectures (Fig. 2-8-2).
(c) Establishment of coordination headquarters for
firefighting support activities
To ensure that the prefectural governor’s orders
from (b) are carried out smoothly, the prefectural
governors are to establish coordination headquarters
for firefighting support activities (hereafter referred toas “coordination headquarters”) in order to carry out
the general coordination for measures like lending
support for firefighting when the Emergency Fire
Response Teams are mobilized for this purpose. The
coordination headquarters are tasked with handlingtasks related to coordinating with the Japan SelfDefense Forces, police, and other relevantorganizations. This is done in an effort to ensure thattasks related to general coordination over measuresdesigned to support the firefighting activities carriedout by the prefecture and municipalities within theprefecture in question are carried out smoothly (Fig.
2-8-3).

C. Enhancing mobility through the 2008 revisions
to the Fire Organization Act
In 2008 the Act for the Partial Revision of the Fire
Organization Act was drafted and entered into force.
This included content such as enhancing the mobility of
the Emergency Fire Response Teams in an effort tofurther strengthen fire and disaster defense structures forlarge-scale earthquakes such as a Tokai Earthquake,
Tonankai/Nankai Earthquake, or an earthquake directly
below the Tokyo Metropolitan Region.

61

Table 2-8-2

Enshrining the Emergency Fire Response Teams into law through the 2003
revisions to the Fire Organization Act

Fig. 2-8-1

Overview of the 2008 revision to the Fire Organization Act

62

Fig. 2-8-2

Authority of prefectural governors to order mobilizations(d) Revisions to the requirements for the Commissionerof the FDMA to order the mobilization of theEmergency Fire Response Teams
The dangers of earthquakes causing enormous
damage in a localized manner as a result of active
faults have been pointed out. It was stipulated that theCommissioner of the FDMA can order the governorsof prefectures aside from the prefecture where themunicipality in which the disaster occurred is locatedor the mayors of municipalities within the prefecture
in question to take the necessary measures to mobilize
their Emergency Fire Response Teams. Where thiswas previously limited to cases where the disaster was
regarded as a large-scale disaster spanning two or
more prefectures, now it can be done when it has been
acknowledged that there is a special need to respondto the disaster in question, even when it is a large-scaledisaster that has occurred solely within a single
prefecture.

Fig. 2-8-3

Organization of coordination
headquarters for firefighting
support activities

The prefectural squads are comprised of the teams
needed to provide assistance to the afflicted region fromamong those teams registered with the fire defense
headquarters within the prefecture.
The command support teams are comprised of theTokyo Fire Department and fire defense headquartersfrom 20 ordinance-designated cities. They head out toemergencies in the afflicted municipality using
helicopters and the like to gather information on thedisaster. In addition, they provide assistance withcommand activities for the mayor of the municipality inquestion to ensure that the command of the Emergency
Fire Response Teams is carried out smoothly in the
afflicted region.

(2) Organization of and Mobilization Plans for
Emergency Fire Response Teams
Issues like the organization of and mobilization plans
for the Emergency Fire Response Teams are establishedwithin the Basic Plan set by the Minister of Internal
Affairs and Communications. An overview of theseissues is provided below.
A. Organization of the Emergency Fire Response
Teams
The Emergency Fire Response Teams are comprisedof prefectural squads, command support teams organized
for special purposes, joint task forces, and rapid responseunits for disasters involving energy and industrial
infrastructure (Dragon Hyper Command Units). They act
under the command of the mayor of the municipality inthe afflicted region.

63

The joint task forces are units that are quickly
mobilized ahead of the others to carry out highly-urgent
firefighting activities and to gather information to informthe actions of the teams arriving later. The Dragon Hyper
Command Unit is a team with expertise in responding to
special disasters like those at petroleum complexes andchemical plants. The duties of the various units thatcomprise the Emergency Fire Response Teams areshown in Fig. 2-8-4.

Fig. 2-8-4

B. Mobilization Plans(A) Basic Mobilization Plans
Whenlarge-scaledisasters
occur,
theCommissioner of the FDMA makes efforts to gather
information and closely coordinate with theprefectural governor of the afflicted prefecture andother officials. They also decide on whether or not it
is necessary to mobilize the Emergency Fire Response
Teams, and take the measures to request or order theirmobilization based on Article 44 of the Fire
Organization Act. Mobilization plans are to beestablished ahead of time to enable their prompt andprecise mobilization in such cases.

Organization of teams comprising the Emergency Fire Response Teams64

Fig. 2-8-5

Basic mobilization and action plans for the Emergency Fire Response Teams

Specifically, for each prefecture in which adisaster occurs, they designate prefectural squads thatmobilize to provide support with a primary focus onneighboring prefectures as “first response prefecturalsquads” and prefectural squads that provide additional
support according to the scale of the disaster as“reserve response prefectural squads.”(B) Rapid Mobilization Standards for when Large-scale
Earthquakes Occur
Whenlarge-scale
earthquakes
occur,
communications infrastructure is disrupted and aconsiderable length of time is needed in order todetermine the overall extent of the damage. In light of
this, Emergency Fire Response Teams must be readyto be quickly mobilized to the afflicted region so thatthey can effectively save lives through firefighting,rescue, first-aid, and other such activities.
For this reason, the Commissioner of the FDMA
has prefectural governors and municipal mayors fromaround the country prepare Requests for the
Mobilization of Emergency Fire Response Teams
Pursuant to Article 44 of the Fire Organization Act inadvance. The Implementation Guidelines on Rapid
Mobilizations of the Emergency Fire Response Teams
for Large-scale Earthquakes were enacted in July

2008, which contained content on matters likemobilizing them the instant a large-scale earthquake
occurs. Then, in March 2015, these implementation
guidelines were prescribed in the Guidelines on
Requests for Assistance from Emergency Fire
Response Teams.
(C) Mobilization Plans for a Tokai Earthquake andOther Potential Earthquakes
It is envisioned that a Tokai Earthquake,
Tonankai/Nankai Earthquake, Nankai TroughEarthquake, earthquake directly below the Tokyo
Metropolitan Region, or other large-scale earthquake
would produce considerable damage that would
extend over multiple prefectures. The thinking is thatthe firefighting capabilities of just the first response
prefectural squads and reserve response prefecturalsquads alone would be insufficient for this. Therefore,
it has been decided that Emergency Fire Response
Teams would be mobilized at a national scale for these.
Therefore, the FDMA has formulated guidelines
and action plans for using the Emergency Fire
Response Teams for each of these disasters should
they occur. This was done by envisioning a Tokai
Earthquake, Tonankai/Nankai Earthquake, Nankai
Trough Earthquake, and earthquake directly below the65Tokyo Metropolitan Region, and is based on the
response guidelines, estimates of the damage fromsuch disasters, and other data from the Central
Disaster Prevention Council.
For example, there is an Emergency Fire Response
Team action plan for a Nankai Trough Earthquake thatwas formulated in March 2016. This plan determinessites to receive assistance in 37 other prefectures aside
from the ten prefectures designated to receive priority
assistance, to which every Emergency Fire Response
Team capable of providing assistance would be
simultaneously and promptly deployed (Fig. 2-8-5).
This is based on factors like the extent of the damage,and is pursuant to the four patterns for the plans fororganizing the assistance prepared in advance.
As for the usage guidelines and action plan for anearthquake directly below the Tokyo Metropolitan
Region, these were revised following thepromulgation of the Act on Special Measures against
Tokyo Inland Earthquake in November 2013.
(D) Assistance Plans by the Prefectures
Each
prefecture
formulates
its
own
Implementation Plans for Assistance from Emergency
Fire Response Teams based on the registration statusof Emergency Fire Response Teams within theprefecture in question. These plans are based on
consultations with the firefighting agencies of eachprefecture in question with regard to the organizationof prefectural squads and other teams, meeting
locations, information communication structures, andother necessary items concerning the prompt
mobilization of Emergency Fire Response Teams toafflicted regions.
What is more, the fire defense headquarters must
likewise formulate assistance plans while striving forconsistency with the contents of the assistance plans
formulated by the prefectures for the sake of promptly
mobilizing the Emergency Fire Response Teams toafflicted regions.

assistance can be conveyed over the phone. What ismore, when prefectural governors request the dispatchof the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) in response
to disasters, they are to consider the need forassistance from the Emergency Fire Response Teams
at the same time.
(b) Coordination with relevant organizations
The guidelines stipulate that coordination
headquarters for firefighting support activities are to
be set up in locations where they can closely
coordinate with not only prefectural disaster response
headquarters, but also the government’s local
response headquarters and relevant organizations.
This is designed to strengthen coordination with therelevant organizations (JSDF, police, Japan Coast
Guard, DMAT, etc.) at the prefectural level.
Moreover, at the municipal level the command
support headquarters is to be set up at a location thatwould allow for close coordination with the municipal
disaster response headquarters and the command
headquarters (established within the fire defense
headquarters of the afflicted region). The guidelines
also stipulated that the team members are to bedispatched to the municipal disaster response
headquarters or the command headquarters based on
the judgment of the head of the command support
headquarters as needed. Both of these measures aredesigned to enhance coordination with the relevantorganizations.
D. Plans for Receiving Assistance
Each prefecture formulates Plans for Receiving
Assistance from the Emergency Fire Response Teams by
hypothesizing situations in which said prefecture itself
falls victim to a disaster. This is done throughconsultations with the firefighting agencies within theprefecture over necessary matters regarding theacceptance of the Emergency Fire Response Teams.
Examples of these include how to operate thecoordination headquarters and air support coordination
teams in times of normalcy, as well as points of ingress,
billeting locations, and refueling bases. It is envisionedthat a large number of aircraft from organizations suchas firefighting agencies, the police, the Japan Coast
Guard, the JSDF, and helicopter ambulances will amassin order to provide assistance to the afflicted region,
particularly when large-scale disasters occur. As such,the guidelines state that air support coordination teams
are to be established within the prefectural disaster
response headquarters in an effort to provide safe andsmooth air support coordination.
What is more, the fire defense headquarters must
likewise formulate plans for receiving assistance while
striving for consistency with the contents of the plans forreceiving assistance and regional firefighting plans
formulated by the prefectures for the sake of receiving
the Emergency Fire Response Teams in their region.

C. Requests for AssistanceBased on the lessons from the disasters that occurredin 2014, in March 2015 the Guidelines on the Use of theEmergency Fire Response Teams were revised, and thefollowing content was prescribed through the Guidelines
on Requests for Assistance from Emergency Fire
Response Teams and the Guidelines on the Use of theEmergency Fire Response Teams.
(a) Requests for immediate assistanceThe guidelines stated that in the event that a largescale disaster occurs, prefectural governors are to
request assistance when the damage is expected to
expand to a considerable degree and they deem theassistance of the Emergency Fire Response Teams tobe necessary. This is to be done even in situations
where the extent of the damage cannot be immediately
determined in detail so as to ensure that requests for
immediate assistance can be made.
What is more, it had been common practice frombefore for requests for assistance from the prefectural
governors to be made in writing based on the official
forms. But the guidelines now state that the need for66

(3) Number of Emergency Fire Response Teams
Registered and Their Equipmenta. Number of teams registeredprogress has been made in equipping them with special
disaster-response fire pump vehicles, rescue work
vehicles, special disaster-response ambulances, as wellas the support vehicles active teams need to act in a selfcontained manner in afflicted regions, and also
fiberscopes and other sophisticated rescue equipment
and supplies.
What is more, the stipulations in Article 50 of the Fire
Organization Act provide for a system for using
equipment free of charge. Under this system, some of theequipment needed by the Emergency Fire Response
Teams for their team activities and logistical activities isallocated to fire defense headquarters and other sites
throughout Japan. Such equipment includes systems forwater sources for firefighting capable of handling energy
and industrial infrastructure, response vehicles forhandling tsunamis and large-scale storm and flood
damage, vehicles that can function as mobile bases, andmore.
Moreover, the emergency and disaster prevention andreduction business debentures (100% allocations, 70%
tax grant rate) that were established in FY2011 wereexpanded in FY2013 to newly encompass “Equipment
for vehicles for the functional enhancement of theEmergency Fire Response Teams” and “Facilities toserve as bases for wide-area activities for the Emergency
Fire Response Teams.”
In FY2014, base facilities for rescue activities and thelike were added to the list of facilities eligible for aid via
subsidies for the costs of outfitting fire and disasterprevention equipment. Such facilities consist ofhelicopter landing pads, facilities for storing equipment
and supplies, and private refueling facilities. Throughthis, progress has been made with setting in place basefacilities that will allow rescue crews to carry out rescue
activities in a self-reliant manner.
The FDMA will continue working to round-out andenhance the equipment of the Emergency Fire Response
Teams in a systematic manner to ensure that they caneffectively carry out their activities.

The stipulations of Paragraph 4, Article 45 of the Fire
Organization Act states that the Commissioner of the
FDMA must register the Emergency Fire Response
Teams based on applications to do so from theprefectural governors or municipal mayors.
Since the launch of the 1,267 Emergency Fire
Response Teams in September 1995, there has been agrowing recognition of the importance of their activities
during disasters. As a result, the number of teams
registered has been on the rise, and as of April 1, 2016
5,301 teams have been registered from 726 fire defense
headquarters nationwide (roughly 99% of the fire
defense headquarters nationwide). This is an increase of
317 teams over and above the number registered in April
1, 2015 (of 4,984 teams) (Table 2-8-3).
In March 2014, the basic plan was revised and atarget for the number of teams registered was set for theend of FY2018 that would substantially increase thenumber of teams from its current level of roughly about
4,500 to roughly 6,000 teams. This is to be done because
it is crucial to set in place a structure for deploying teams
quickly and at a large scale in preparation for large-scaledisasters such as a Nankai Trough Earthquake or anearthquake directly below the Tokyo Metropolitan
Region, for which damage that is worse than that fromthe Great East Japan Earthquake is envisioned.
b. Equipment
Since they were first launched, the FDMA has
formulated standards for the equipment for theEmergency Fire Response Teams. Moreover, since theirenshrinement into law in 2003, it has included provisions
for this in its basic plan as it has worked to round-out
their line-up of equipment. Starting from 2006,
government subsidy measures have been taken througha subsidy for outfitting the Emergency Fire Response
Teams with facilities and equipment. Through this,67

Table 2-8-3

Registration status of Emergency Fire Response Teams in FY2016(As of April 1, 2016; Unit: teams)

68

Attachment 6
Attachment
Attachment 6

Extent of fire damage by prefecture

Extent of fire damage by prefecture White Paper P.288-290(During 2015)(Note)The “21 city total” is found within the prefectural total.

69

Attachment 6

Extent of fire damage by prefecture (continued)(During 2015)(Note)The “21 city total” is found within the prefectural total.

70Attachment 6

Extent of fire damage by prefecture (continued)(During 2015) (Unit: 1,000 yen)

(Note)The “21 city total” is found within the prefectural total.

71

Attachment 32
Attachement 32

Trends in the number of firefighting agencies and volunteer firefighter

Trends in the number of firefighting agencies and volunteer firefighters White Paper P.314(As of April 1 of each year)(Note)

Prepared based on the Survey of the Current Status of Fire Prevention and Earthquake Countermeasures and the Report on Personnel Changes
concerning Fire Defense Headquarters and Volunteer Fire Corps.

72

Attachment 34
Attachment 34

Trends in the number of facilities for hazardous material

Trends in the number of facilities for hazardous materials White Paper P.316(As of March 31 of each year)(Notes)123Prepared based on the Survey on Regulation Work of Hazardous Materials.
1959 is as of September 30.
With regard to the numbers in 2011 and 2012, because of the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the numbers for the Fire Defense
Headquarters of Rikuzentakata City of Iwate Prefecture and the Fire Defense Headquarters of the Inter-municipal Association of the Futaba
Region in Fukushima Prefecture were calculated based on the numbers at the time of last fiscal year’s survey (as of March 31, 2010).

73